Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef took issue today with his Ashkenazic counterpart, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, over the permissibility of birth control pills. According to Rabbi Yosef, neither the pill nor any other form of contraception is allowable under Jewish law except in the direst medical circumstances. Rabbi Goren had said over the weekend that the pill could be taken, but only by mothers who have fulfilled their religious obligations by giving birth to at least one boy and one girl.
Rabbi Yosef contended that Goren’s statement as “damaging” in that it could “weaken the faith” of women who accept it. He said that in his opinion the pill could be taken only by women whose lives would be endangered by pregnancy or who would suffer extreme pain. He insisted that the economic situation of the family was not an allowable factor “He who gives life will also provide nourishment,” said Rabbi Yosef.
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