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- Title
Defining the Father in Modern Fertility Techniques.
- Authors
STEINBERG, AVRAHAM
- Abstract
Fatherhood is one of the most basic concepts; yet, we do not find a direct definition of this term in Talmudic and Rishonim sources. Deduced from various halakhot (rulings of Jewish law), a father is defined as the man from whose sperm a woman became pregnant and delivered a child. In ancient times and until recently, this happened primarily after a direct relationship between a man and a woman. Modern fertility technologies enable the introduction of sperm into the womb of a woman by artificial insemination without physical contact between them. Moreover, it is possible to obtain sperm from a man, save it frozen, and inseminate into a woman after the death of the man. Even more striking is the option to obtain sperm after the man died and inseminate it into a woman. Are the men in the above examples defined halakhically as fathers of the offspring? In the future, it might be possible to clone a child not only without direct contact between a man and a woman, but even without using sperm. How would fatherhood be defined in various situations of cloning? If stem cell research will come to fruition, it will be possible to create both a sperm and an egg from the same person. Who will be the father if the source of the stem cell will be a woman?
- Subjects
FATHERHOOD; FERTILITY; HUMAN artificial insemination (Jewish law)
- Publication
B'Or Ha'Torah, 2016, Vol 24, p47
- ISSN
0333-6298
- Publication type
Article