1,994. The Ability to Have Children

Hilchos Sotah 2:10

If a man isn’t married to a woman who can have children and he has no previous children, if he marries a woman who is infertile, past the age of child-bearing or who will not mature biologically, then she doesn’t drink the bitter water nor does she receive the value of her kesubah (if she violates a warning of jealousy). However, if the husband already has children or if he has another wife who can have children, then he can make this wife drink the bitter water even if she is incapable of having children. The Torah’s promise, “She will be vindicated and conceive” only applies to a woman who can conceive, i.e., if she previously gave birth in pain, she will give birth without pain, and if she previously only had daughters, she will give birth to sons.

Hilchos Sotah 2:11

If a man had another wife or children but they died in between the time he issued a warning to this wife and the time she was secluded with the object of his jealousy, then since the woman was once fit to drink the bitter water, she is made to do so. Let’s say that a man didn’t have children or another wife able to have children in addition to this wife who can’t but that the man’s ex-wife gave birth to his child in between the time he issued the warning and the time this wife entered into seclusion with the object of jealousy. In such a case, since the infertile wife was already exempted from drinking the bitter water, she remains exempted.