Saturday, March 3, 2012

Jews, I have a question regarding surrogate mothers and Jewish law?

Please only answer if you're Jewish and know what you're talking about...My husband and I are a young couple, I'm 21, and we're Jewish. We really want to have a child of our own. I have Cystic Fibrosis though (a disease that severely affects my lung function and digestion as well) and I've talked to my doctor about having a baby and the doctor said that in my case it would be a big toll on my body to carry and birth a baby. I'm in frail health, often get infections, and I will have to have a double lung transplant eventually...I'm thinking of having my own baby by having a surrogate mother though, using my own egg and my husband's own sperm, so genetically it would be our biological child, it would simply be carried to term by another woman. What does Jewish law say about this? Does the surrogate mother have to be Jewish? If I allowed the embryo to be implanted into my non-Jewish best friend (who's willing to do this and agree to my terms), would my child be considered a Jew by Orthodox standards?

We weren't raised very religious, but we want to raise our child to be observant and attend Jewish schools/yeshiva.Jews, I have a question regarding surrogate mothers and Jewish law?
Your question is a very complex matter and any answer given here can not sufficiently address all the halachic considerations. What follows is a brief overview of the issues. I highly recommend asking your rabbi for a definitive answer.



Who is a parent?



This simple question cuts to the core of the matter. How do we define the parent-child relationship? Is it exclusively genetic, such that the sperm donor and ovum donor are the parents, or does the surrogate, who nurtures the child to birth, have maternal status as well? Does the father's status change if conception occurs in vitro? Is it possible for the baby to have 2 mothers (both the donor and the surrogate)?



There are no simple answers to these questions. There are rabbis who argue that the birth mother is the only mother according to Jewish law. This is based upon a question of a pregnant woman who converts to Judaism. Halacha states that if she has twins that the children are considered siblings. Since conception occurred before the mother was Jewish and after conversion all filial relations are severed the only way the twins can be considered siblings is if their being born to the same woman conveys that status. It could be argued, though (and it is by other rabbis) that perhaps it is not the act of birthing that imparts the status but the fact of gestation, that the woman sustained the children and grew them inside her that is the determining factor. What needs to be answered in this scenario is how much time is needed (what percentage of growth in utero) to gain that status.



Paternity is a totally different matter. Some rabbis argue that any artificial insemination terminates the sperm donor's connection to the baby; others disagree. If conception is in utero and the fertilized egg is subsequently removed and placed in the surrogate, one could argue that all would agree that the sperm provider is the father.



If the surrogate is not Jewish then the child might also be not Jewish. If birth is what determines maternity (and religious affiliation as well, which might not necessarily be the case), then a child born to a non-Jew would not be Jewish. If the egg donor is also considered a mother, though, then the child would be half-Jewish and half not. According to most opinions, a conversion would be necessary in such a situation. If the surrogate was Jewish then the child is certainly Jewish. The complexity here is that one would have to take caution when the child decides to marry that he or she not marry prohibited relatives of either mother. From this perspective it is less problematic for the surrogate to be non-Jewish. The drawback is that since the child has to be converted to remove all doubt as to his or her status, a girl would not be permitted to marry a kohen.



Whether the child is considered a kohen or levi if the father is one would depend on the conclusion of whether the father has halachic paternity or not. And, in the case of a non-Jewish surrogate, that status would remain in doubt because of the need for conversion, which means that a boy born to a kohen would not be permitted to marry a convert or divorcee because he might really be a kohen.



If the surrogate is a relative of either donor raises yet more complications. Is the sperm donor is the father would having his child placed inside his sister or sister-in-law be considered incestuous? Might the child inadvertently become a mamzer? What if the surrogate was not a relative but was married, would implantation be tantamount to adultery? The answer to these questions would depend on how one defined adultery and what significance physical intercourse has in this definition.



As I said at the outset, this question is an exceptionally complex one. A competent religious authority must be sought to resolve these matters. What makes the matter even more fraught with uncertainty is how other rabbis (such as the religious authority of the school where you might send your child, or the rabbi of the person your child might want to marry) will feel about your child's status. Seek out a well respected rabbi and ask him to give you a written response so that you will save potentially uncomfortable situations in the future.
My profound sympathies for your condition. This question can ***only***, and I mean ONLY, be answered by a competent rabbinic authority. However, the jlaw.com site is devoted to issues such as this, and you may find the link below helpful as a starting point.Jews, I have a question regarding surrogate mothers and Jewish law?
This is not an area with which I'm conversant. Most of what I know deals more with birth control rather than child-bearing, and in a way, that's relevant, because in some senses, any kind of birth control is allowed - and in some senses, NONE is allowed. In short, it's a question of interpretation.



I think probably that surrogacy is a similar sort of thing, and that it is something about which you should consult a rabbi with whom YOU feel comfortable talking - not for a "ruling," but so that you will understand the thinking on questions like this. One point that you might want to consider is whether or not a child born to a non-Jewish woman would be considered Jewish, even though the child has your and your husband's DNA. Jewish law ultimately says that the fetus becomes a child when it first draws breath, and from a rather legalistic standpoint, I would think that this idea would impact the "Jewishness" of the child from the standpoint of Halacha.



I'm not remotely a rabbi; I simply do a lot of reading, and I have a suspicion that it's something that would have a bearing on your situation. From a personal standpoint, I have zero problem with surrogacy; I think it would be an amazing gift to you from your friend, no matter what your friend believes (or doesn't), and that you are very lucky to have someone who would consider it. Good luck!

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