"From Machon Puah"

The Status of the Embryo

Last week we started looking at the unusual case of the Octomom who recently gave birth to octuplets. Prior to discussing whether one can perform a fetal reduction, we started looking at the sources that discuss the halachic status of the embryo.

We saw three sources that gave milestones in the development of the embryo that could be the beginning of life; conception, forty days, and end of the first third of pregnancy, called the first trimester.

Each of these can be related to biological milestones of the developing embryo. Obviously conception is when the two gamete cells meet to form a zygotic cell. Each of the gametes contains half of the genetic material necessary for life, so only when they meet and form the full cell of the gamete can life begin.

At around forty days after conception one can observe limbs developing in the human fetus and the heart beat can be detected. So here we have a being that does not yet appear human but it can be seen to be alive. Interestingly the Rambam notes this in his Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Issurei Biy’a 10:3) and gives quite an accurate description of the stages in the developing fetus.

At the end of the third trimester the fetus looks human and all the limbs are present and continue to develop. So this can be called true life.

However, despite all of these important milestones, the halachic discussion of the unborn child centers on the understanding of a Mishna that discusses the permissibility of performing a very late abortion.

“The woman who is in danger during childbirth, we cut the child in her womb and remove him limb by limb, since her life comes before his life. If she gave birth so that the majority of the child was outside her body, then we cannot touch him since we do not push off one soul before another soul.” (Ohalot 7:6)

This Mishna describes a sorry situation where the woman’s life is in danger due to childbirth, and we can only save her by killing the child. In this case, we save her life even at the horrific cost of the child’s life.

Yet if the child is mostly born then we cannot do anything and we step back and cannot determine who to save. The Mishna gives the reason for this, since we do not push off one soul before another soul.

From this we can deduce that the soul enters the body at birth and before this the child does not possess a soul and therefore is not alive.

According to this, even up to the last moment before birth the unborn child is not considered alive and only achieves this status at birth.

The Puah Institute for Fertility and Gynecology in Accordance with Halacha is based in Jerusalem and helps couples from all over the world who are experiencing fertility problems. Puah offers free counseling in five languages, halachic supervision, and educational programs. Puah has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Paris. To contact the Puah Institute please call 1-800-071111 in Israel or in the US 718-336-0603. website: http://www.puahonline.org

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