Abstract
Through narrative interviews with 20 pregnant ultra-orthodox [. Haredi] Jewish women in Israel conducted between 2007 and 2009, we examine the implications for such women of prenatal testing, and of pregnancy as a gendered route of piety. We found that pregnancy signified both a divine mission and possible reproductive misfortunes. Bearing a child with a disability was taken as a test of faith and God's decree was to be accepted. Fetal anomaly created anxiety about the women's ability to fulfill their God-given task and about their position in an unwritten hierarchy of gendered righteousness. Challenging reproductive decisions were often assigned to rabbis, but this did not exempt women from viewing themselves as inadequate in their religious devotion. We conclude that prenatal testing becomes a spiritual ordeal that aggravates pregnancy tensions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1527-1533 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Social Science and Medicine |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors are grateful to the women who agreed to share their pregnancy experiences with us. We thank the anonymous reviewers of SSM for their helpful comments, suggestions and criticism. The research was supported by the Women's Health Foundation of Hadassah , the Women's Zionist Organization of America .
Keywords
- Collective reproductive histories
- Hierarchies of piety
- Israel
- Maternal subjectivity
- Prenatal diagnosis
- Religion
- Ultra-orthodox Jews
- Women
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- History and Philosophy of Science
