Woman Gives Birth to Own Grandchild (4-Minute Moving Video)
After being diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 29, Chicago resident Emily Jordan had her uterus surgically removed in order to save her life. And two years later Emily’s mother, 53-year-old Cindy Reutzel, became a surrogate mother for her daughter’s baby daughter, who was born this week! So moving to see this mother’s love and dedication to her daughter. Congratulations!
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major, MAJOR halachic sha’alos here!
some poskim hold that the surrogate is the mother
others argue that she’s not
it’s very very tough for many reasons
the video makes it seem simple and all joyful but it is not
what kind of halachic shaalos?
thanks Naomi for pointing this out. It seems that this mother and daughter are not Jewish. If they were Jewish, surrogacy (I just found out) raises a lot of halachic issues. Here’s a short article about surrogacy in Jewish Law
http://www.yoatzot.org/article.php?id=111
With that said, I know an Orthodox mother who has had two children by surrogacy. I’m not sure how exactly. But I think that the Puah Institute has more information on halachic surrogacy for interested infertile couples.
Not that I’d recommend it to anyone, it was a wonderful gift for a mother to give her daughter. So many women are deeply brokenhearted because they cannot have their own children. Making this an option for those interested is pretty amazing.
just one small example of how not simple it is
let’s say people in this family convert to Judaism
now
you can marry your uncle, but you cannot marry your brother
is the grandmother’s brother her uncle, or her brother?
forbidden marriages hold their own set of sha’alos down the line
That’s actually a lot less of an issue than it would be for just some other lady to be the surrogate. That lady will go off and maybe have more kids, and maybe one day the baby she bore to the infertile couple will meet one of her “halachic siblings” and want to marry him or her. Even if they are not biologically related, it would be a halachic problem. If the grandmother is the surrogate, this is far less likely to be an issue because no one marries their uncle these days… (on the other hand just getting pregnant from your son or son-in-law is a big issue, even if it is just through technology).
“her” – referring to “the baby’s”