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The child of a Jewish woman is a Jew. Is this status transmitted through birth or through parentage (genetics)? Specifically, if a Jewish woman acts as a surrogate for two non-Jews, what is the s...
Question
personal-status
#1: Initial revision
by
Monica Cellio
·
2023-03-12T20:25:49Z (about 1 year ago)
Does a surrogate mother affect the Jewish status of the child?
The child of a Jewish woman is a Jew. Is this status transmitted through *birth* or through *parentage* (genetics)? Specifically, if a Jewish woman acts as a surrogate for two non-Jews, what is the status of the child? A surrogate provides a womb for a fertilized egg from another couple. Non-Jewish friends of mine had a child this way recently; the child is genetically theirs, with no genetic contribution from the (also non-Jewish) woman who carried it to term for them. It made me wonder what would have happened if the surrogate had been Jewish. I assume that a Jewish woman would be advised to not get into this situation, but that doesn't mean it never happened.