Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Fertility difficulties later in life

18 November, 2015

Question:

I am nearing 40 and my husband is 50. We are married for almost 2 years and are desperately trying to have children.

I have a very irregular period. It seems I am always at the mikveh.

We have been to a fertility specialist, who put me on Clomid, of which I became resistant to. My husband has a low count / high abnormality ejaculate. We have tried insemination, but that has failed.

We really want to go back to the natural way, before we continue further with the IVF option. And it seems waiting the full 7 clean days does not fit in my reality. How flexible are the laws of family purity, and do I have the option of cutting the number of clean days in order to catch when it is optimal FOR ME to conceive?


Answer:

We appreciate the sensitive nature of this question.

Based on what you write about your irregularity, your age, and your husband’s ejaculate, natural attempts at conception including IUI, are unlikely to succeed. Time is of the essence. We therefore urge you to seek medical assistance available so that you may become pregnant B”H.

For more information on ovulation before immersion, please read our article here. Unfortunately, we think this situation entails a number of factors beyond that.

You may find it helpful to consult a Yoetzet Halacha Fertility Counselor about your options. This is a free service, details here.

We wish you much hatzlacha, may you find yourself in a healthy pregnancy soon!

This response was updated on 22 November, 2020.


This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional.

For further questions or comments: 

The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.


Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.


Accessibility Toolbar