Halakhah do Estery 2:7

Rabbi Goldberg points out that R. Akiva Eger's position is contradicted by at least one authority. R. Joseph Engel, Bet ha-Ozar, erekh av, argues that, although the sire of a fetus is a "father," nevertheless the female carrying the fetus in her womb is not recognized as a "mother" in the eyes of Jewish law until the moment of parturition. The Gemara, Megillah 13a, notes the redundancy inherent in the phrases "for she did not have a father or a mother" and "upon the death of her father and her mother" (Esther 2:7) and indicates that the second phrase is designed to convey additional information to the effect that Esther did not have a father or mother for even a single day. The Gemara comments that Esther's father died as soon as her mother conceived and that her mother perished upon her birth. The Gemara carefully spells out that Esther is described as never having had a father because her father died following conception before he could properly be termed a "father," i.e., before the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, and that she is described as never having had a mother despite the fact that her mother survived until the end of the gestational period. Esther is described as not having a mother because her mother died in childbirth Hence this talmudic passage clearly indicates that a woman may properly be termed a "mother" only upon parturition. Presumably, the distinction between the male and female parent is based upon the fact that the male's role in reproduction ceases upon fertilization of the ovum and, accordingly, he is termed a "father" as soon as the fetus has reached a significant stage of development, whereas the female's role remains incomplete until the moment of birth.²¹See R. Yitzchak Ya‘akov Rabinowitz, Zekher Yiẓḥak, I, no. 4. Why R. Akiva Eger ignored the discussion in Megillah is unclear.²²See Maharal of Prague, Or Ḥadash, s.v. va-yehi omen. Indeed, even if no compelling evidence can be adduced demonstrating recognition of dual maternal relationships, the possibility of dual relationships cannot be excluded unless there is evidence to that effect. He may have regarded that discussion as aggadic in nature and hence as not being a proper source for derivation of a halakhic principle.