Expectant Women and Fast Days
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef
In the Gemara, Tractate P′sochim, page 54, it is written that pregnant women are obligated to fast on Tish′a B′Av and Yom Kippur, and this is brought down in halacha, ruled in the Shulchan Aruch, chapter 554 and in the Laws of Yom Kippur, chapter 617.
200 years ago, Rabbi Tzedaka Chutzin lived in Aram Tzovah (Aleppo). In the preface to his sefer "Tzedaka uMishpat, Rabbi Chutzin relates that when he came to Bagdad, he saw pregnant women suffering due to the fast, because of the aridity and heat. Rabbi Chutzin permitted them to eat and drink.
Currently, there are doctors who claim that a pregnant woman who fasts is likely to miscarry. Years ago Dr. Weintraub, of the Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center, approached Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel Fisher, ob"m, and told him that on Tish′a B′Av and the next day there was an extraordinary amount of premature births and miscarriages in his department, twice as many as on a regular day. Based on this observation, Rabbi Fisher ruled in his sefer "Even Yisroel" that a pregnant woman may eat and drink on Yom Kippur, since one transgresses the laws of Yom Kippur in order to save a fetus less than 40 days old.
In practical terms: concerning the fast of Yom Kippur, there is no one sweeping halachic ruling for all expectant mothers, since we are dealing with a fast that is from the Torah. If a doctor checked the woman and declares her fit to fast, she has to fast. Concerning Tish′a B′Av, since the debate of the Rabbinical authorities about the obligation to fast deals with a fast d′Rabbanan, we rule leniently, and there is no reason to be stringent.
In any case, each woman should consult her own Rabbi, who will rule for her specific circumstance.
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