[Avodah] Must A Women Subject Herself To A Caesarean Delivery?

[Zev Sero]

On 8/02/2011 5:04 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 07, 2011 at 08:24:20AM -0500, Prof. Levine wrote:
>>  From http://revach.net/article.php?id=4965
>>
>> Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach&  Rav Elyashiv ybcl"c - Must A Women Subject
>> Herself To A Caesarean Delivery?
>
>> If a woman cannot give birth naturally and her delivery will require
>> Caesarean section, can she refuse her husband's request to have children?
> ...
>> [RSZA] goes as far as saying that even if right before childbirth the
>> doctors says that it may be dangerous for the child to be born naturally
>> and a c-section would prove to be a much safer alternative to delivering
>> a healthy child, she may still refuse on the grounds that she is afraid
>> to undergo the operation, even at the expense of the child.

> What I find telling is what isn't discussed. It seems that risking the
> life of the child can be decided without raising the issue of the life
> of the child. The Nishmas Avrohom presents a machloqes in terms of the
> woman's responsibility to her husband's qiyum of piryah verivyah. No
> mention of piquach nefesh.
>
> IS IT because neither held loss of a fetus was death? With obvious
> implications WRT why abortion is assur??? Anyone know?


1. The pikuach nefesh of one person can't be used to force another
person to put himself in even a little bit of danger.

2. Passively refusing an action that would save the baby's life is not
at all the same as taking action that would endanger it.

3. In the initial question there is no baby; the woman is choosing not
to become pregnant in the first place because if she does so she will
have to have a caesarean.  The extension of RSZA's psak to a case where
there is already a "ubar lefaneinu" doesn't seem to be the same question
at all; perhaps even RYSE might agree that if it comes down to the wire
and she says she can't go through with it she may refuse.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                      - Margaret Thatcher