DEVELOPING HALAKHIC ATTITUDES TO SEX PRESELECTION

. Stanley, loc. cit., p. 196. . Simeon J. Maslin(ed.), Gates of Mitzvah, New York , 1979, p. 11. . Bleich , op. cit., p. 114. . Maslin, op. cit., p. 30. . Ibid. p. 77. 37. Ramban , Iggeret Ha-Kodesh.

38. Any fertility problems would, of course, be included in the definition of"medical interest."

39. This has been mooted in the literature. For spermicides see"Assessing Biomedical Technologies," p. 35. For a sex-preselection pill to be taken by the male see, David M. Rorvik, Brave New Baby, New York , 1971, p. 50.

40. It is important to note that the halakhah is permissive in this situation out of considerations other than pikuach nefesh. As J. David Bleich explains,"Halakhah is suspended only when there is no other way of avoiding danger. In the case of the'three women'[the Talmudic discussion of women at risk] there are other alternatives, albeit harsh ones: abstinence or divorce..." Practically speaking, the halakhah allows contraception in order to make marital intercourse possible for these women. It could equally have disallowed it. How much the more then can one imagine sex preselection devices being accepted when the Talmud explicitly supports sex preselection.

41. This is the position of Solomon Luria . For a good summation of his views see Rachel Biale, Women and Jewish Law, New York , 1984, pp. 215-8.

42. Bleich , op. cit., See Chapter 10.

43. See the first of the principles of progressive halakhah in Zemer, op. cit., pp. 47-8.

44. The London Daily Mail, March 18th, 1994, p. 7. See also, Sandra Ann Carson,"Sex Selection: The ultimate in family planning," in Fertility and Sterility, Vol. 50, No. 1, July,

1988, p. 16.

45. Rorvik, op. cit, p. 41.