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9/29
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20

Ethically Bound

British rabbis approve
separating twins.

Loncion/JTA
ritish rabbis of all denominations
are supporting a court decision
ordering the separation of conjoined
twins, though the operation will mean
the death of the weaker girl.
In a case that has sharply divided the
nation, Britain's Court of Appeals last
Friday upheld an earlier decision to sep-
arate the twins, who share vital organs.
The parents of the twins known as
"Jodie" and "Mary" are opposed to the
operation, although doctors believe that
if the girls are not separated, both will
die within months.
If they are separated, doctors say,
Jodie could live a normal life, while
Mary would die.
The parents, devout Roman
Catholics, say only God should deter-
mine how long the children will live.
British Jewish ethicists are meanwhile
siding with the court order. Many rely
on the analogy that Mary is a rodef —
Hebrew for a "pursuer" of Jodie.
"The principle is couched in fairly
barbaric language because it's an
ancient principle," said Dr. Harry
Freedman of the Masorti, or
Conservative, movement. But if some-
one is pursuing another person" with
the intent to kill, "you can kill the pur-
suer to save the life of the pursued," he
said.
Berel Berkovits of the Federation of
Synagogues, an Orthodox body, said
there are two ways to look at the case.
"Is it one person or two?" he said of
the twins. "You might argue that it's one
organism, in which case separating" one
from the other "is like an amputation to
save a life." That course of action is cer-
tainly permissible, he added.
If the twins are two separate organ-
isms, he said, each could be considered
a pursuer of the other, since each, in
effect, would kill the other if they are
not separated.
"So the inevitable conclusion, sad
though it is, is that you may — and in
fact probably should — operate.
Freedman said there was a case to be
made for respecting the parents' wishes.
"You can argue that the position of
the parents should be paramount," he
said. "It's certainly not a black-and-
white case."
Following the appeals court's decision,
the parents still have the option to
appeal to the Law Lords, Britain's high-
est court. El

B

