السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
1. In terms of the Shāfiʿī madhhab, the wuḍū breaks by touching a dead body of a person of the opposite sex who is not a maḥram relative to the person touching.
2. However, where the observance of this rule creates difficulty on account of one’s work, for example, one may adopt the position of any of the other madhāhib. In this respect—
2.1. the Ḥanafī madhhab states that wuḍū does not break at all;
2.2. and the Mālikī and Ḥanbalī madhhabs state that wuḍū will only break if the touching
occurs with lust and desire.
3. Regarding your second question—about having to make a critical decision in a situation where complications in childbirth enforce a choice of prioritization—the Sharīʿah would as a rule give preference to the life known to exist, which is that of the mother, over the life that might potentially survive, which is the child.
4. However, we believe that with the great advances that medical science has achieved in this era, instances of such stark prioritization would hopefully be reduced to extremely rarity, if at all.
والله تعالى أعلم
And Allah knows best.
(Issued: May 2018)
