Categories: In Print / Halacha & Hashkafa

Is It Proper To Pursue IVF Treatment?

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March 6, 2024, 6 AM ET

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The overwhelming consensus permits couples to pursue IVF when necessary and when they use their own genetic material (the Tzitz Eliezer's objection is an outlier). There is a major debate whether rabbinic supervision is necessary for the procedure. Consultation with your rav is essential. Using a donor ovum is very controversial and is fraught with halachic complications, such as the identity of the halachic mother. – Rabbi Chaim Jachter is a prominent rabbi who serves as the rabbi at Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, and is a popular Torah teacher at the Torah Academy of Bergen County. He also serves as a Dayan on the Beth Din of Elizabeth and has acquired an international reputation of excellence in the area of Get administration. He has authored sixteen books on issues ranging from contemporary Halacha, Tanach, Aggada, and Jewish Thought all available on Amazon.

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I don't see an inherent problem in pursuing IVF treatment, especially when there is otherwise a fertility problem. Even when one already has children and struggles to have more, there is very real consideration to be given to pursuing treatment subject to circumstances. As in all instances there are complex, one should consult with competent halachic authorities and their guidelines should be followed every step of the way. – Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet is a popular Lubavitch lecturer and rabbi of London’s Mill Hill Synagogue

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This question is very sensitive and to answer it in a public forum, in my estimation, will cause more harm than good. I recommend that any questions regarding this should be directed to any interested party's rabbi or to organizations such as PUAH who can guide you properly regarding the halacha. – Rabbi Mordechai Weiss lives in Efrat, Israel, and previously served as an elementary and high school principal in New Jersey and Connecticut. He was also the founder and rav of Young Israel of Margate, N.J. His email is ravmordechai@aol.com.

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IVF, or in vitro fertilization, is a series of techniques by which sex cells are fertilized in a laboratory medium – originally a test tube, which has become synonymous with these techniques – and the fertilized embryos are later implanted in the mother. The process is not without its halachic challenges, and poskim of recent generations have addressed them extensively. The questions that arise include:

How can sperm cells be obtained without violating the prohibition of hotza’at zera levatalah?
If multiple embryos are successfully fertilized, and the parents do not wish to implant them all, may the rest be destroyed?
If one woman provides the egg cell, but the fertilized embryo is implanted in another woman – the “surrogate mother” – which of them is deemed the mother halakhically?
If the husband dies and leaves behind fertilized embryos in a laboratory, but no children, must the embryos be destroyed before his widow may perform chalitzah?

These are some very difficult and emotionally charged questions. And yet, today, IVF enables couples who, in the past, would not have been able to have children to become parents. This is an amazing blessing of our generation. In fact, there are some contemporary poskim who require couples to undergo IVF treatments if they are otherwise unable to have children. While most poskim do not accept this view, their general attitude is pro-natal and in favor of working with couples to realize their dream of becoming parents. Israel, in fact, is a world leader in fertility treatments, which are covered by its socialized medicine. As always, a couple should consult with a competent halachic authority when making such momentous decisions. – Rabbi Elli Fischer is a translator, writer, and historian. He edits Rav Eliezer Melamed's Peninei Halakha in English, cofounded HaMapah, a project to quantify and map rabbinic literature, and is a founding editor of Lehrhaus. Follow him @adderabbi on Twitter or listen to his podcast, "Down the Rabbi Hole."