Medieval Birth Control Comparison Essay by MG

This paper examines the use of birth control in Islamic and Christian regions during medieval times, its prevalence and acceptance in Islamic regions versus Christian regions, and the social and cultural implications surrounding it. Through an analysis of the reasoning of medieval Islamic jurists regarding contraception in contrast with the writings of St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, it shows how Islam permitted birth control, and Christianity did not. It looks at how Islamic rulings were based primarily on reason and logic and were rooted in a strong understanding of the principles of biology, not religious fervor. In contrast, it shows how, tragically, countless women died in Europe because Church leaders denounced contraception and kept from the public contraceptive means.