New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- On weekends, Mumbai-based writer Sonam Deshmukh and her husband divide their time between freelance deadlines and caring for their rescued cats. Their home carries the markers of intention rather than absence-books stacked in corners, feeding schedules on the fridge, long conversations that stretch into the night. The absence of children is not circumstantial. It is deliberate. That deliberateness, however, did not come without resistance.

While the decision strengthened their marriage, Deshmukh recalls prolonged, emotionally charged conversations with her family, who believed she would eventually "come around" to motherhood. "Not having children wasn't seen as a decision," she says. "It was seen as a phase." Her hus...