Rabbi Menachem Burstein, head of the Pu'ah Institute that works with Jewish couples with fertility problems, has issued a Halachic opinion that women close to their due dates should not try to advance their child's delivery to Sunday – October 10, 2010. Rabbi Burstein said he had received many questions from mothers on whether it was permissible to take action, such as ingesting drugs that would induce labor, in order to ensure that their child was born on 10/10/10.
“This is not permissible, for three reasons,” Rabbi Burstein wrote. “The date is not a Jewish one, and has nothing to do with Judaism; inducing often causes caesarean section deliveries, and can be dangerous; and delivering a child before its time can place it in great danger, since the child does not get the Heavenly help that comes with childbirth that runs its full course.” He added that women who are planning to deliver by C-section could, if they wished, scheduled their operations for Sunday, but that to do so just for the “honor” of having their children on that particular date was not recommended.
“This is not permissible, for three reasons,” Rabbi Burstein wrote. “The date is not a Jewish one, and has nothing to do with Judaism; inducing often causes caesarean section deliveries, and can be dangerous; and delivering a child before its time can place it in great danger, since the child does not get the Heavenly help that comes with childbirth that runs its full course.” He added that women who are planning to deliver by C-section could, if they wished, scheduled their operations for Sunday, but that to do so just for the “honor” of having their children on that particular date was not recommended.