This chapter shifts the focus of the book to non-reproductive desire in Palestine by comparatively examining relevant legal genealogies and coexisting layers of law on birth control, especially abortion, using a sweeping historical approach. The purpose is to undermine simplistic reliance on “religion” or “culture” to explain birth control ideologies, practices, and restrictions in historic and contemporary Palestine. This and the following chapter show that contraceptive use was licit and available and abortion, while often “technically illegal,” was always an important method of birth control for women in all communities. Most people made complex or simple anti-reproductive decisions best understood by accounting for personal situations and options, as well as material and structural conditions. The first section offers an abridged comparative overview of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian religious legal traditions on contraception, abortion, and sex. The second examines late Ottoman laws, policies, and priorities as they interacted with birth control practices. The third summarizes British law on birth control in Mandate Palestine. The final section discusses Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian National Authority abortion laws and policies applicable since 1948.