Abstract
Drawing on an ethnographic study of reproduction in Israel, in this article I demonstrate how Orthodox Jews delineate borders between the godly and the human in their daily reproductive practices. Exploring the multiple ways access to technology affects religious belief and observance, I describe three approaches to marital birth control, two of which are antithetical: steadfast resistance to and general acceptance of “calculated family planning.” Seeking a middle road, the third model, “flexible decision-making,” reveals how couples push off and welcome pregnancies simultaneously. Unravelling the illusion of a binary model of planned/unplanned parenthood, I call for nuanced models of reproductive decision-making.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 370-383 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 19 May 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords
- Israel
- Judaism
- contraception
- decision-making
- religion
- reproduction
