The Commentator

One of the highlights of this year's Medical Ethics Conference was the panel of rabbis and doctors, headed by Rabbi Hershel Schachter. It included Dr. Susan Lobel, Rabbi Menachem Burshtein, and Rabbi Gideon Weitzman. The topic was "New Frontiers in Fertility Treatment."

One interesting topic discussed was ovarian transplantation. Rabbi Schachter said that this would not present a problem of maternity, because "once you take an organ from one person and put it in another person it becomes part of the second person." However, Rabbi Schachter was adamant that there would be a problem of chavala, damaging ones body.

In a session about fertility techniques, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) was one of the most pressing topics that came up. The procedure involves taking out one cell of an in vitro fertilized blastocyst to determine the genetic makeup of an embryo. It not only allows physicians to check for genetic diseases such as Tay-sachs, but also medical personnel to determine the sex of the embryo. The embryo can then either be rejected due to defect or implanted in a woman's uterus. Embryo selection raises ethical concerns, such as the ability for a couple to choose the sex of their child. It also has some applications in Jewish law.

Although the commandment to procreate, p'ru u'rvu, is widely interpreted as requiring parents to raise at least one son and one daughter, the rabbis on the panel felt that using PGD for gender selection was not appropriate. This would be true even if the couple already had five sons and wanted a daughter to fulfill the mitzvah.

The situation becomes more complicated when PGD is performed to prevent disease. If PGD is going to be done no matter what, would it then become permissible for the couple to choose the gender of their future child - especially if it could help fulfill the mitzvah of p'ru u'rvu?

Rabbi Schachter responded to this issue with the following: "If you're checking for diseases and have to do this PGD anyway, then the matter is more complicated. What is clear is that you should never do the PGD if the only purpose is to determine the gender. As far as the mitzvah of p'ru u'rvu, I don't think it's necessary."

Rabbi Schachter's comments shed some light on this complicated issue. While there can be situations where gender pre-determination does not create any new health risks, it's a slippery slope and can lead to complicated religious and social issues. However, he did insist that in a situation that PGD will prevent genetic abnormalities then it is specifically recommended. You don't have to be a tzaddik at your children's expense."

The session touched on other fertility concerns including freezing eggs and sperm of chemotherapy patients who have not yet had children, the halakhic issues of genetic testing, and issues of posthumous paternity.

According to Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman, the Conference was a huge success and represented an ideal of Yeshiva University. "This is the very hall the Rav lectured in for many years. We know the Rav is looking down on Lamport Auditorium and saying 'You got it right! This is exactly what I meant by Torah u'Maddah!'"

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