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Judaism & Reproductive Justice: Birth Control and Abortion in Jewish History & Ethics

from $72.00

with Samira Mehta
—
When

Tuesdays · 3 Weeks · Starts April 14th
3:00-4:30 pm ET / 12:00-1:30 pm PT

This three week course will consider Jewish involvement in the history of birth control and abortion in the United States, and envision what activism might look like for Jews and Jewish communities moving forward. We will examine different moments in the history of Jewish involvement in the birth control movement, thinking about:

• Jewish doctors who became leaders in the birth control movement, beginning with women working in clinics between World Wars I and II,
• Alan Guttmacher’s leadership in the birth control movement from the 1950 to the early 1970s,
• Repro Shabbat and the National Council of Jewish Women today.


We will similarly trace Reform and Conservative Responsa on abortion, and contrast their initially limited support of abortion with the more comprehensive goals of Jewish Feminism. We will close by exploring Reproductive Justice, a movement officially articulated in the 1990s by women of color who found that the “reproductive rights" movement did not fully address their needs. We will talk about the intersections of Judaism with that movement and ask how we can work together in alliance.
—
This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.

Cost

This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $126 (the true cost), $99 or $72.

If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.

If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this simple form, and we will get right back to you.

Click here to donate to JUs financial aid fund to support financial equity and access to education for all students.

Sliding Scale Prices:

with Samira Mehta
—
When

Tuesdays · 3 Weeks · Starts April 14th
3:00-4:30 pm ET / 12:00-1:30 pm PT

This three week course will consider Jewish involvement in the history of birth control and abortion in the United States, and envision what activism might look like for Jews and Jewish communities moving forward. We will examine different moments in the history of Jewish involvement in the birth control movement, thinking about:

• Jewish doctors who became leaders in the birth control movement, beginning with women working in clinics between World Wars I and II,
• Alan Guttmacher’s leadership in the birth control movement from the 1950 to the early 1970s,
• Repro Shabbat and the National Council of Jewish Women today.


We will similarly trace Reform and Conservative Responsa on abortion, and contrast their initially limited support of abortion with the more comprehensive goals of Jewish Feminism. We will close by exploring Reproductive Justice, a movement officially articulated in the 1990s by women of color who found that the “reproductive rights" movement did not fully address their needs. We will talk about the intersections of Judaism with that movement and ask how we can work together in alliance.
—
This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.

Cost

This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $126 (the true cost), $99 or $72.

If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.

If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this simple form, and we will get right back to you.

Click here to donate to JUs financial aid fund to support financial equity and access to education for all students.

Samira K. Mehta (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she currently serves as the Director of Jewish Studies. Her research and teaching focus on the intersections religion, culture, and gender, including the politics of family life and reproduction in the United States. Her first book, Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) was a National Jewish book award finalist. She has also published a book of personal essays called The Racism of People Who Love You (Beacon Press, 2023) and which appeared on Oprah’s “Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2023,” where it was called “the epitome of a book meeting a moment.” God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion (University of North Carolina Press, 2026) examines the role of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant voices in competing moral logics of contraception, population control, and eugenics from the mid-twentieth century to the 1990s. She is also beginning a project for Princeton University Press called A Mixed Multitude: Jews of Color in the United States. Mehta is the primary investigator for a Henry Luce Foundation funded project called Jews of Color: Histories and Futures. She also serves as a series editor for the North American Religion series at NYU Press.

Professor Mehta has been a Research Associate and the Colorado Scholar in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program and visiting associate professor of North American Religion at Harvard Divinity School and has been a Larson Fellow of the Kluge Center of the Library of Congress. She holds degrees from Swarthmore College, Harvard University, and Emory University.