ABSTRACT
The life course of women and men in most societies simply does not allow for childbirth and rearing during the entire period women are able to reproduce. Choices have always been made not to have children. Child bearing and the choices it involves have also been a source of social, cultural, and political conflict as the historiography of women, family, and fertility makes very clear. Yet it is also evident that revealing a society's attitudes towards infanticide and abortion, the subjects dealt with here, exposes the parameters of what is sanctioned or accepted as ways to limit reproduction in any particular society at any particular moment in time. Determining these restrictions has been central to policies on the regulation of populations practiced by the church, the state, government agencies, and civil society organizations such as medical societies and philanthropic organizations. Boundaries were also set by the norms developed in families and kinship networks. 1 The negotiations related to these limitations reflect not only the position of women and concepts of family, but they are also integrated into the understanding of children and childhood during different periods of time.
