Intimate Compromise

Reproduction, Piety, and Medicine Among American Orthodox Christians

Bibliographic Data

ID4748096
AuthorsC A Pop (0000-0002-2929-0131, Department of Cultural and Social Studies, Creighton University Omaha, Nebraska, USA, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume42
Issue6
Pages521-534
Publication date2023-08-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0145-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-5882
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01459740.2023.2235712
PMID37526927
OpenAlexW4385441606
LanguageEN
References cited28

Drawing on ethnographic findings from an American Orthodox Christian community, I examine how forms of intimate reproductive compromise facilitate the assertive refusal to negotiate on abortion. The American Orthodox harness the values and practices of biomedicine to validate their refusal of abortion, but their inflexible views emerge from prior compromises. By not giving up modern contraception, women self-fashion forms of piety that allow them to navigate composite identities while remaining dedicated to a pro-life stance. That steadfast refusal of abortion may be the consequence of previous concessions opens up new ways of theorizing refusal as inextricably bound to - rather than exclusive of - prior compromises

Abortion · Compromise · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies