Reproductive Health Behavior and Decision-making of Muslim Women : An Ethnographic Study in a Low-income Community in Urban North India

As a consequence of the politicization of religion in India, the study of Islam in fertility is a highly sensitive issue. How do Muslim women make decisions relating to their fertility and practice of contraception? How do factors as socio-cultural norms, socioeconomic constraints, national family planning policies, and Islamic legal tenets affect women's reproductive health behavior? This ethnographic study answers these questions by analyzing the local context, in which the lives of these low-income Muslim women are embedded. Theories and concepts of demography are also explored and critically reflected on.