Can a husband physically support his wife in labor?
8 December, 2024
Question:Shalom!
Can a woman in labor be massaged, or have her hand held by her husband, etc, if that’s what she wants?
I am a doula, and a lot of couples I know are being advised that they are not permitted to touch at a certain point in the labor. However, I also know that many women deeply desire their husband to be there for them through hand holding or back rubbing. I always understood that a yoledet falls under pikuach nefesh and you can do anything necessary for her.
What is the halacha? Thanks!
Answer:The husband may have physical contact with his laboring wife until she is rendered niddah – either she experiences uterine bleeding, or if the contractions are so strong she is unable to walk around, or if she is fully dilated.
Once a woman is rendered niddah, the husband may not have physical contact with her unless it is absolutely necessary and there is no one else available to help her (e.g., if she is delivering in the car on the way to the hospital, obviously her husband can touch her). If both the husband and doula are attending to the laboring wife, from the point where the wife becomes niddah the doula should offer the physical support and the husband should offer emotional support.
Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.
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.