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

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Injections during niddah

26 September, 2004
Question:

Hi and thank you for your amazing website!

My question is this – I”YH, I will be starting fertility medications, which include Follistim & Ovidrel – medications administered via injection. Is my husband allowed to administer the medication if I am niddah? If he can does it have to be done differently somehow? Other issues related to my question – I don’t want to have to rely on somebody else to administer the medications (they have to be done in the evening), I really don’t want to do it to myself/I don’t think I can, and I would prefer to keep this issue private from others.


Answer:

Thank you for your kind words.

We appreciate the sensitive nature of this question. Because physical contact, even via an object, is prohibited for spouses during niddah, it halachically preferable either to learn to inject the medication yourself or to arrange for a friend or nurse to give it to you. With a little training, you may discover that injecting it for yourself is manageable. You also might find that having someone else to share your situation with is beneficial.

If these options are not feasible, then your husband can administer the injections during niddah, preferably wearing disposable gloves to minimize physical contact and exposing only the minimum amount of skin necessary for the injection, keeping the injection site as far from the genital area as would be medically acceptable.

If you’d like to discuss this, or other issues connected to fertility treatments, further, please arrange a free consultation with a Yoetzet Halacha Fertility Counselor, details here.

B’hatzlacha!

This response was updated on 4 May, 2021.

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