Islamic Rulings: Medical Issues

Rules Regarding Barrenness and Impregnation

Question 75: What ruling does putting sperm from an unknown man into a woman by an operation, with the condition that her husband is unable to have children have?

Answer: This operation, in itself, does not have any problem but one must stay away from forbidden looks and touches.

Question 76: Suppose artificial sperm is invented and a woman has artificial sperm placed in her womb. From this artificial sperm she has twins, a girl and a boy. Can these twins marry each other? What are the rulings concerning family relations on their mother’s side?

Answer: They are brother and sister and are mahram to the mahrams of their mother.

Question 77: Suppose artificial sperm and an artificial womb is created in the future. If artificial sperm is placed in the artificial womb and a boy and girl are produced, are they brother and sister? Can they get married to each other?

Answer: They would not be brother and sister and there would be no problem with them getting married.

Question 78: If a fetus before the spirit is blown into it is transferred from one woman to another woman, which woman would be the mother? If the first woman is the mother is the second woman mahram?

Answer: If it was transferred from the womb of one woman to another then the first woman would be the mother, if this is not the case the second woman would be the mother.

Question 79: A child is born and a couple adopts it. According to the Islamic code the age of the child is not important, the child can be one day or a few years old. The baby could have been born on time or premature. The question is can one adopt a child when it is still a fetus? Can a couple give the fetus in the mother’s stomach to another couple? If this is permissible can the fetus be transferred to the second mother and grow up in her stomach?

Answer: A foster child does not have the rulings of one’s own child. There is no problem, in itself, of transferring the fetus if there are no forbidden looks or touches.

Question 80: Some women, due to an abnormality in their womb are not able to keep a fetus inside them. Is it possible for them to transfer the fetus to another woman until after childbirth and then the child be returned to the first mother and father? Apparently Imam Khomeini accepted this.

Answer: The religious ruling was mentioned earlier and if the sperm and egg of the first couple created the baby then it is related to them.

Question 81: If a man is not able to create sperm in his body is it permissible for a couple to get sperm from a sperm bank and mix it with his wife’s eggs in a laboratory. After this happens a fetus is created and after childbirth the couple raises the child.

Answer: There is no problem in this in and of itself if no forbidden action is committed. The ruling regarding the child has been mentioned.

Question 82: Regarding question 83, is it possible for the sperm not to be mixed with the mother’s egg in a laboratory, rather be placed directly into the mother’s womb in order that the fetus be created inside the mother?

Answer: There is no problem with that, in and of itself, and in the case where the fetus would be created inside the woman she would become the mother.

Question 83: Many cases where medicine is used in order to have childbirth, birth is given to multiple children in the fifth or sixth months of pregnancy. These children normally die because they have not developed enough. One of the methods used today to prevent the death of all of these children is to decrease the number of children in a mother’s womb during the first months of pregnancy (between the 50th and 60th day of pregnancy). This method allows the other children to develop enough in order to live. Is this method permissible according to religion or not?

Answer: If all of the children are going to die and there is a way to save some of them it is obligatory to save some of them, but if decreasing the number of fetuses that have life is performed rashly then it seems like there would be a problem in it.

Question 84: If it is permissible for a woman to be impregnated by the sperm of someone other than her husband, who is the father? Is the father the sperm donator? If the father is the sperm donator and the child is a girl, is she mahram to the husband of the mother? If the child is a boy, is he mahram to the mother?

Answer: The child is related to the mother. The child is not related to the husband of the mother and it is far-fetched that the child would be related to the sperm donator. Precaution must be adhered to in this case.

Question 85: In the case that life was breathed into the body of a fetus then transferred to another woman’s womb, is the child related to the first woman or the second one? If the child is related to the first woman, is it mahram to the second woman or not?

Answer: The mother of the child mentioned would be related to the first woman and would not be mahram to the second woman.

Question 86: In the case that an artificial womb is invented in the future, if sperm from one man is placed in the artificial womb and a boy and girl are born, what relation do these children have with each other? Is it possible for them to marry each other?

Answer: It is difficult to say that they would be brother and sister, in this case precaution must be adhered to.