Fertility Challenges

In our pro-natal culture, what does it feel like for Jewish women and men who are having a problem becoming parents?

Sarah’s Laugh
by Karen Propp 
Summer 1998
Surprising outcomes in a support group for Jewish women struggling to conceive. 

King Solomon’s Knife
by Diane Cole
Summer 1998
“Who’s the real mother?” the author asks, as she transforms Solomon’s divisive tale into one of healing. 

A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Infertility and Pregnancy Loss
by Karen Paul-Stern
Winter 1999-2000
Prayer and liturgy have the potential to offer comfort and solace.

Jewish Woman’s Eggs
by Susan Weidman Schneider
Fall 2001
Why they are a hot commodity in the I.V.F. marketplace. Who’s buying? Who’s selling?

Generation I.V.F 
by Miriam Zoll
Fall 2013
Ten things she wishes someone had told her about making a baby in the lab.

Horton Hatches Her Own Egg
by Liz Lawler
March 22, 2011
Wading into the conversation about surrogacy.

Women Rabbis on Miscarriage
by Susan Schnur
Fall 1991
A visit to the mikveh could be part of a formal Jewish ritual response to miscarriage.

State Funding and Fertility Treatments—In an Israeli Prison
by Tara Bognar
February 10, 2012
What does it mean when the Israeli Prison Services agrees to fund fertility treatments for two convicted murderers who met and married while incarcerated?

A Modest Proposal: Create a Fertility Fund
by Susan Weidman Schneider
January 22, 2015
Here is one possible source of succor for people who might need help in creating their families. 

A Good Egg: One Donor’s Story
by “Rebecca Greenberg” as told to Esther D. Kustanowitz
Winter 1999-2000
After having her own baby, an egg donor revisits the choice to donate her eggs years before.

Also see the “Adoption and D-I-Y Motherhood” anthology.