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<DIV>In Avodah Digest, Vol 25, Issue 337 dated 9/22/2008 R' Daniel Eidensohn
quoted R' Moshe Feinstein:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Igros
Moshe (Y.D. 2:74): Concerning inducing premature childbirth.<BR><BR>"In my
humble opinion it is prohibited to induce premature childbirth <BR>because
childbirth in its natural time in the natural way is not <BR>considered a
danger at all.... We must <BR>conclude that there is absolutely no
danger in childbirth at all. That <BR>mean that G-d promised that there would
never be danger in childbirth. <BR>This that it happens that women die during
childbirth is only because <BR>they were liable to punishment as is stated in
Shabbos (31). "There are <BR>three sins for which women die during
childbirth". According to this <BR>reasoning it is only when childbirth is in
its natural time that there <BR>is a promise that there is no inherent danger.
The punishment that is <BR>the result of the sin of the Tree of Knowledge is
only to have birth <BR>pains and not death chas v'shalom! However when they
want to induce <BR>premature labor there is no guarantee of safety....
"<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV>-------</DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In Avodah Digest, Vol 25, Issue 373 dated 11/3/2008 <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>"Chana
Luntz" <A
href="mailto:Chana@kolsassoon.org.uk">Chana@kolsassoon.org.uk</A> wrote:<BR></FONT></DIV><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT></DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>
<DIV><BR><BR>>>After all, it is completely accepted in the sources that a
yoledet hi<BR>k'chola sheyesh bo sakana (as stated explicitly in Shulchan Aruch
Orech<BR>Chaim siman 329 si'if 1) with the consequence that, as stated in
the<BR>following words of the Shulchan Aruch "umechalelin aleha b'shabbat
l'kol<BR>mashetztricha". And the gemora in shabbat 128b clearly regards
the fact<BR>that we are mechallel shabbas for such a woman as a
p'shita.<<<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>><BR>In Time magazine, dated Sept. 29, 2008, there's a
four-page article entitled "Death in Birth," complete with haunting
photographs, e.g., of an African man holding his motherless
newborn. Here's an excerpt:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>--quote--</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Death in childbirth is not just something you find in a Victorian
novel. Every year, about 536,000 women die giving birth. In some
poor nations, dying in childbirth is so common that almost everyone has known a
victim. Take Sierra Leone, a West African nation with just 6.3 million
people: women there have a 1 in 8 chance of dying in childbirth during their
lifetime. The same miserable odds apply in Afghanistan. In the U.S.,
by contrast, the lifetime chance that a woman will die in childbirth is about 1
in 4,800....In 20 years -- two decades that have seen spectacular medical
breakthroughs -- the ratio of maternal deaths to babies born has barely budged
in poor countries....Though many die in hospitals, researchers say the riskiest
births are those without any nurse, midwife or doctor in attendance -- about 35%
of all the world's births. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>--end quote--</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>PS They're not saying that one third of all the world's births end in
maternal death, but that a third take place without benefit of any medical help
-- and those births are very risky. A one in eight chance of dying is
pretty high and certainly doesn't sound like childbirth is just a "natural
process" with little danger. <BR></DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR><BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="89024d348922db430c25008f10b684b"><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. <a href="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001">Check out Today's Hot 5 Travel Deals!</a></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>