fulfills the mitzvah of propagation"(Responsa Minhat Yitzhaq vol. 1, 50). Another controversy arose concerning the period of time a couple must wait before trying A.LH. Rabbi Shalom Mordecai Shwadron allowed the treatment only under the most stringent conditions:"I permit this only when the couple has waited ten years, she has not borne a child, and they are on the brink of divorce"(Responsa Maharsham, vol. 3, 268).
Rabbi Eliezer Judah Waldenburg, currently a member of the Rabbinic High Court in Jerusalem , claims that there are decisors who permit a woman to undergo this treatment in less than ten years on the condition that dependable physicians are convinced that it would be impossible for her to become pregnant from her husband in the natural way(Responsa 1zitz Eliezer, 1945, vol. 9, 51).
Although there is some controversy on the issue of artificial insemination from a husband in keeping with the pluralistic nature of the halakhah, the vast majority of respondents not only permit, but encourage A.LH. in fulfillment of the mitzvah"be fruitful and multiply."