Reproductive Care Amid Population Politics: An Ethnographic Study of Muslim Women’s Contraceptive Experiences in Hyderabad

Communal narratives in India have consistently portrayed Muslim fertility as a demographic threat, often alleging that Muslim communities deliberately avoid contraception and increase their population and outnumber the Hindu majority. Amplified through political rhetoric and digital media, these claims persist despite robust evidence showing declining fertility rates among Muslims. This disjuncture between perception and reality is the basis of this study. Drawing on ten months of ethnographic fieldwork in Hyderabad (India), the study explores the contraceptive experiences of Muslim women and their interactions with public-sector reproductive health services. It situates these experiences within broader socio-political and institutional contexts. The findings illustrate how the contraceptive choices of Muslim women in Hyderabad are guided by concerns around physical well-being, rather than religious doctrine. While sterilisation is widely accepted - often following the strain of closely spaced pregnancies - reversible methods are frequently avoided due to fears of side effects. Critically public hospitals are often experienced by Muslim women as sites of disrespect and abuse, where informal payments and religious discrimination adversely impact their experiences of contraceptive use. The study further finds that misinformation surrounding Muslim fertility. fosters apathetic attitudes among service providers toward delivering reproductive care to Muslim women. This disengagement deepens existing inequalities. Ultimately, the paper calls for a shift toward a more inclusive, justice-oriented approach to public reproductive healthcare in India - one that actively addresses structural inequities and provider bias in service delivery.