Abstract: This article joins new scholarly directions that reevaluate the professionalization of women's health during state-building. It concentrates on the modernization of the Ottoman state during and after the Tanzimat 1839–1876. Addressing two central issues: first, it focuses on unlicensed Jewish midwives, and the sources examined—which differ in their producers, aims, audience, and languages—reveal a significant political and cultural change in the portrayal of midwives. Second, it examines Jews' participation in the professionalization of women's health, which I argue had clear boundaries, as I demonstrate that Ottoman Jews were engaged in debates that called for the supervision of unlicensed midwives and the advancement of scientific medicine methods; however, pregnancy termination and Jewish midwives as leading performers of this practice were not discussed. Focusing on Ottoman Jews, this article underscores cultural divergences in Ottoman perceptions about pregnancy termination.
Anabella Esperanza (Thu,) studied this question.