The Pill and the Family in Tri-Faith, Cold War America, Samira Mehta, University of Colorado-Boulder
In this talk, which will ultimately be the second chapter of Mehta’s book God Bless the Pill: Contraception and Sexuality in Tri-Faith America, Mehta explores the responses of the Protestant Mainline, non-Orthodox Judaism, and some lay Catholics and parish priests to the development of the birth control pill. She traces the development of a definition of responsible parenthood, that both pushed against state sanctioned eugenics at the same time that it upheld a distinctly “Judeo-Christian” and white supremacist set of expectations for American family life.
Respondent: Elesha Coffman, Baylor University