Event Details
Join us for a special evening featuring Samira Mehta in conversation with Rabbi Ruth Gelfarb, Congregation Har HaShem. They will engage in an in-depth discussion of Mehta’s compelling new book, "God Bless the Pill."
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.
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.
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.
Boulder Book Store will have copies of "God Bless The Pill" available for sale at the event. Dessert and book signing will follow the program.
Monday, July 20 | 7 pm - 8:30 pm | $10 per person
This program is presented in partnership with the Boulder JCC, with promotional support from Boulder Hadassah and the Women of Har HaShem.