Jewish Law and Contraceptive Practice

Abstract

Support for regulation of individual fertility has been evident in all cultures and at all times, even in those societies in which social and religious rules have favored the abundant production of children. The oldest recorded medical recipes to prevent conception are found in ancient Egyptian papyri from 1850 b.c. Contraceptive knowledge had a written basis from the works of Aristotle in the fourth century b.c. through a variety of Greek and Roman medical writings. The scientific basis for contraception up to the late seventeenth century was spread through Europe by Islamic physicians. Dissemination of birth control methods did not begin until the twentieth century.