Judaism and reproductive technology.

Reproductive technology offers a bewildering number of options for infertile men and women to have children, including ovary and testis freezing, transplantation, in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor sperm, donor eggs, stem cells, gestational surrogacy, genetic diagnosis of embryos, and, of course, birth control. These technologies cut to the very core of personal and religious belief systems. The purpose of this chapter is to explain the approach of classic Jewish Law to these technologies and how I see my work within it. Judaism as a religion today is not well defined. While Jews are a common people, the religion of Judaism is divided into three main branches: “orthodox,” “conservative,” and “reformed.” Approximately about 10% of Jews worldwide are orthodox, and orthodox Judaism is the only branch that is quite well defined (National Jewish Population Survey 2000–2001). Approximately 70% of Jews worldwide are reformed or “secular.” About 20% of Jews are conservative, which is a sort of a hybrid between orthodox and reformed Judaism. With the exception of orthodox Jews (10%), most Jews would have a very difficult time defining their belief system. In fact, orthodox Jews often define themselves as “religious” Jews so as to distinguish themselves from the other 90% (reformed and conservative) who are viewed by the orthodox as ethnic and historical Jews, but who are not following the traditional Jewish religion. Thus, to simplify the discussion of Judaism and modern reproductive technology, it is much easier to concentrate on this more clearly defined orthodox branch of Judaism since it has the most severe set of rules.