God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion

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Samira K. Mehta

God Bless the Pill

Name: God Bless the Pill
Price: 229 AUD
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ISBN: 9781469693422

The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion

Samira K. Mehta

$229

Hardback

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English

The University of North Carolina Press
14 April 2026

History of religion; Religious aspects of sexuality, gender & relationships; Ethical issues: abortion & birth control; Gender studies: women; Religious groups: social & cultural aspects

Most people today understand contraception as central to women’s liberation, and when the birth control pill arrived in 1960, the media thought it would usher in a sexual revolution. But a surprising number of religious Americans in the mid-twentieth century also saw contraception as part of God’s plan—a tool to create happy, prosperous American families in the post–World War II era.

In God Bless the Pill, Samira K. Mehta traces the remarkable story of how mid-twentieth-century Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish voices promoted the use of birth control and made it more accessible for many Americans. They hoped birth control methods would curb divorce rates by encouraging sexually dynamic marriages and families unstrained by “too many” children—thereby creating a postwar upwardly mobile middle class. Religious leaders also promoted this understanding of the family as tied to Cold War capitalism and encouraged neither racial nor gender equity.

But then came the backlash, both from the Right—which failed to anticipate the feminist potential of contraception—and from the Left, where women, particularly women of color, sought to ensure that birth control was a tool of liberation rather than one rooted in patriarchal and racial oppression. Ultimately, Mehta offers compelling new insights into the way religion accommodates itself to social, technological, and medical change.

By: Samira K. Mehta
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 25mm, Spine: 155mm
ISBN: 9781469693422
ISBN 10: 1469693429
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 14 April 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Samira K. Mehta is associate professor of women and gender studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she also serves as the director of the Program in Jewish Studies.

Reviews for God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion

""A historical narrative that holds together religion, race, and economics to give us a deep--and sometimes surprising--account of how cultural discussions of birth control got where they are today.""--Sarah Imhoff, Indiana University