Calculating date of conception
4 February, 2010
Question:Hello,
I had a miscarriage four days ago. The interval from my last mikvah immersion until the miscarriage was 75 days. Does the 40–day cutoff for yoledet status depend simply on the date of immersion (i.e. do we just assume that that was the date of conception), or is other medical evidence taken into account in determining whether the miscarriage was 40 days from conception? My periods are irregular, and ovulation unpredictable. I had three ultrasounds over three weeks, none of which showed any signs of life; there was only a gestational sac. Moreover, the gestational sac was small, so the doctor estimated that my date of conception was several weeks later than the day I went to mikvah. Do I need to wait 12 days or 14?
Thank you so much for your help.
Answer:We are sorry to hear of your miscarriage.
With respect to this halacha, we are stringent in cases of doubt. The yoledet status depends on the interval from the date of the first act of relations after immersion (in most cases, the same date as immersion) to the date of the miscarriage (even where signs of life were not detected earlier). Therefore, you should indeed wait fourteen days prior to immersion.
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.