general
Sign in to save
Question
If a woman dies when she is pregnant, and the doctors state that the foetus in her womb is still alive, is it permissible to perform surgery on her to remove the foetus?
Answer
Praise be to Allah.If
the woman has died and there is a foetus in her womb, it is most likely
that he has died too. If he is still alive, he will not live for more thana few moments. But if we assume that this case (described in the
question) is true, and it is possible to save the child’s life by
opening the mother’s abdomen, then the Hanbalis have stated that it is
OK to do this, if there is the certainty that the child can be brought
forth alive from his mother’s womb. They said: her abdomen should be cut
open and the child brought out alive, then her abdomen should be stitched
up, then she should be buried. And Allaah knows best.
Source: IslamQA (Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid)