HARMFUL METHODS PRACTICED TO AVOID LARGE FAMILIES
_In this chapter it is shown that ignorance of scientific means of
preventing conception involves women in harmful practices. The most
common is coitus interruptus which results in nervous disorders. Long
continued celibacy or unnatural continence leads to sex inversions.
When, in spite of these unscientific practices, pregnancy follows,
abortion, the greatest disgrace of modern civilization, is the only
resort of the harassed mother, unless she will bear unwanted offspring._
COITUS INTERRUPTUS
_THE SEXUAL LIFE OF WOMAN IN ITS PHYSIOLOGICAL, BIOLOGICAL AND
HYGIENIC ASPECTS. E. Heinrich Kisch, M.D._
The prevailing practice of coitus interruptus leads, in my experience in
consequence of the intense hyperaemia of the uterus and the uterine
annexa unrelieved by the occurrence of the orgasm, to a condition of
stasis in the female reproductive organs, and this ultimately passes on
into chronic netritis, (with relaxation of the uterus, retro-flexion, or
ante-flexion, catarrhal diseases of the mucous membrane, erosions and
follicular laceration of the portio vaginalis) oophoritis and
perimetritis. The evil effects of coitus interruptus for a woman are
dependent on the fact that the woman fails to obtain complete sexual
gratification, and that this has an important influence on her entire
organism. If this ungratifying coitus interruptus is frequently repeated
in a voluptuous woman disorders of the reproductive organs ensue, and
even more frequently nervous disorders in the form of neurasthenia
sexualis. P. 403.
Mantegazza believes that organic disease of the spinal cord may actually
result from coitus interruptus.
Hirt considers that even when marital intercourse is carefully regulated
with respect to frequency, coitus interruptus may lead to neurasthenic
manifestations.
Eulenberg also declares that coitus interruptus is already a frequent
cause of sexual neurasthenia in women and that its evil influence in
this respect is becoming more and more frequently manifest. P. 405.
Valenta declared that coitus interruptus was one of the chief causes of
chronic netritis.
According to Kleinwachter, coitus interruptus is harmful to the woman to
an extent by no means trivial, whereas the man in whom ejaculation
occurs, suffers comparatively little. P. 407.
_DISORDERS OF THE SEXUAL FUNCTION. By Max Huhner, M.D., Chief of
Clinic, Genitourinary Department, Mt. Sinai Hospital Dispensary,
New York City._
If the act of coitus is stopped before it is completed, the seminal
vesicles have not been able to completely empty themselves, or to empty
themselves as completely as during a normal coitus, and are thus left
more or less filled. The mucous membrane in the prostalic urethra has
not been able to completely deplethorize itself, and thus remains more
or less congested after the act. As a result of all this, impulses are
sent much sooner from the distended vesicles and the prostatic urethra
to the erection center and the cerebrum, so that the desire for coitus
is felt sooner than after normal coitus. The seminal vesicles, being
never completely emptied during withdrawal coitus, are constantly
sending impulses to the erection center, while the mucous membrane of
the prostatic urethra, being in a condition of chronic congestion in
consequence of repeated acts of withdrawal, is likewise sending
continuous impulses to the same center whether coitus is indulged or
not. The result of these continued impulses sent from both sources, as
well as the repeated demands made upon the center itself from the oft
repeated acts of coitus, is, that the erection center does not
completely recover itself and finally remains in a state of
hyperexcitability.... It must be remembered, however, that all this does
not occur as a result of a single act of withdrawal; and it is often
only after years of this practice that the harmful effects above
described become evident. Page 227.
CONTINENCE
_THE SEXUAL LIFE OF WOMAN IN ITS PHYSIOLOGICAL, BIOLOGICAL AND
HYGIENIC ASPECTS. E. Heinrich Kisch, M.D._
Grafe, with reference to the view that if for any reason conception must
be avoided this should be done by abstinence from sexual intercourse,
remarks, “doubtless the ideal demand, but one which even those with
exceptional strength of will are unlikely to satisfy. And the worst of
it is that even a single indiscretion will often result in
impregnation.” Moreover, it is distinctly contrary to natural conditions
that a healthy married couple, united by an intimate affection should
live together, abstaining completely from sexual intercourse. The
question has already been much discussed, both in speech and writing,
and this will continue in the future without altering the fact that the
physician will be asked, and will be compelled to give advice regarding
the use of means of prevention of pregnancy. P. 399.
The desired goal of artificial sterility will not, however, be reached
through advocacy of moderation and continence. P. 400.
_EFFECTS OF ABSTINENCE. Rassenverbesserung. Translated from the Dutch
of Dr. J. Rutgers._
And if we could penetrate still more deeply into the recesses of the
instincts, and project into the light of day the world of phantasy of
those who live in enforced continence, we would draw away in horror from
the spectacle of what each individual must conceal from himself and
others. We would not then be so eager for the consummation of what is
called sexual abstinence. P. 14.
Physiology teaches that every function gains in power and efficiency
through a certain degree of control, but that the too-extended
suppression of a desire gives rise to pathological disturbances and in
time cripples the function. Especially in the case of women may the
damage entailed by too long continued sexual abstinence, bring about
deep disturbances, all the more because women more often than men
misunderstand, or are unaware of this etiological moment, and have not
the slightest idea of the true cause of their psychic and somatic
injury. P. 15.
The unmarried state is a trying and often injurious condition for a man
as well as a woman, when they live in strict continence; and if the
latter is not the case and they resort to prostitution, there are even
more pain and suffering in store for them. P. 16.
We must not forget that there are always two parties to the situation.
What can a physically weaker and spiritually stronger woman do even if
she desires continence with her whole soul, but her husband will have
none of it? Is it not then her duty to protect herself in order that she
may not give birth to a weakly progeny?
_HARPER’S WEEKLY. 1915._
When Dr. A. A. Brill, Lecturer in Abnormal Psychology, New York
University, and formerly Chief of Clinic in Psychiatry, Columbia
University, was asked how he regarded contraception in relation to
nervous diseases, he replied emphatically: “You can say that I am for
it. It is much better than an abortion. For instance, I have in mind a
woman who was discharged from the insane hospital. She had three
children and had been three times insane. What chance in life has a
child born between two attacks of insanity, whose mother is mentally
defective? Even sane women, if they are nervous and emotional, should
never bear children against their will. It is foolish to talk about
making people have children when they do not want them. It’s bad for the
woman and bad for the child. It is very bad for a child to be born into
a home where he is not desired. I find that many adult, nervous patients
were unwished-for-children, and it was the early attitude of their
parents toward them that contributed much to their bent toward nervous
invalidism.” In reply to the contention of the anti-regulationists that
contraception is physically and mentally harmful, he stated that certain
methods are injurious, while others are not. He commented on the
unfortunate fact that it is the undesirable methods which are employed
by the poorer people, because druggists put a high price upon the better
means on the plea that they run a risk in selling them at all.
Remembering that Dr. Brill was for years connected with Central Islip,
he was asked if he did not consider it demanding a good deal to expect a
man discharged from an insane asylum and sent home to his wife, to live
a sexually abstinent life. He replied: “Only people who know nothing of
the sex impulse can make such a demand of a person who has a poor mental
organization. Of course it is impossible. It is impossible even for the
average normal man, and especially for those who live crowded in two or
three rooms.”
_THE SEXUAL LIFE. By P. W. Malchow, M.D., Professor of Proctology, and
Associate in Clinical Medicine, Hamline University, College of
Physicians and Surgeons; member Hennepin County Medical Society,
Minnesota State Medical Society, American Medical Association,
etc._
There can be no doubt that the influence of prolonged continence upon
either the male or female is to dwarf and in many respects destroy that
which goes to make a broad and full physical and intellectual
personality and that to perform the sexual act whenever there is an
existing state of sexual excitement, with the usual marital
restrictions, is rather beneficial that otherwise. Page 201.
In cases of nervousness in either sex it may be found that, as a rule,
the first indication is a disturbance of the sexual function, following
which there will be digestive troubles, then affections of special
nerves, of which disorders of sight are the first and most frequent,
with neuralgias, etc., later. Observation has shown this to be the
general rule, and that is also in accordance with the law of
self-preservation. With the conviction that nervousness is first
manifested and begins with an alteration in the natural sexual function
we may conclude that other functional disorders are a natural sequence.
It thus becomes evident that the most prolific cause of nervousness is
an inability for natural sexual living. Page 296.
A life of celibacy cannot be said to be a natural one, and when this
state of celibacy is combined with propinquity, in which there must of
necessity be a source of repeated and more or less constant sexual
excitability there is added to one already incomplete life a greater
burden of increased tension, which must be a very considerable factor in
the causation of unrest or nervousness. Page 155.
How best to circumvent family complications is the burning question of
the hour with the average young wife, and a satisfactory solution of
this problem would be a boon to society and prevent untold suffering.
When confronted with the question, the usual answer is, in effect, “be
natural,” which in these days of stress, is no answer at all, as it is
not practical. Page 158.
THE OBJECTS OF MARRIAGE
BY HAVELOCK ELLIS
What are the legitimate objects of marriage? We know that many people
seek to marry for ends that can scarcely be called legitimate, that men
may marry to obtain a cheap domestic drudge or nurse, and that women may
marry to be kept when they are tired of keeping themselves. These
objects in marriage may or may not be moral, but in any case they are
scarcely its legitimate ends. We are here concerned to ascertain those
ends of marriage which are legitimate when we take the highest ground as
moral and civilized men and women living in an advanced state of society
and seeking, if we can, to advance that state of society still further.
The primary end of marriage is to beget and bear offspring, and to rear
them until they are able to take care of themselves. On that basis Man
is at one with all the mammals and most of the birds. If, indeed, we
disregard the originally less essential part of this end,—that is to
say, the care and tending of the young,—this end of marriage is not only
the primary but usually the sole end of sexual intercourse in the whole
mammal world. As a natural instinct, its achievement involves
gratification and well-being, but this bait of gratification is merely a
device of Nature’s and not in itself an end having any useful function
at the periods when conception is not possible. This is clearly
indicated by the fact that among animals the female only experiences
sexual desire at the season of impregnation, and that desire ceases as
soon as impregnation takes place, though this is only in a few species
true of the male, obviously because, if his sexual desire and aptitude
were confined to so brief a period, the chances of the female meeting
the right male at the right moment would be too seriously diminished; so
that the attentive and inquisitive attitude towards the female by the
male animal—which we may often think we see still traceable in the human
species—is not the outcome of lustfulness for personal gratification
(“wantonly to satisfy carnal lusts and appetites like brute beasts,” as
the Anglican Prayer Book incorrectly puts it) but implanted by Nature
for the benefit of the female and the attainment of the primary object
of procreation. This primary object we may term the animal end of
marriage.
This object remains not only the primary but even the sole end of
marriage among the lower races of mankind generally. The erotic idea in
its deeper sense, that is to say the element of love, arose very slowly
in mankind. It is found, it is true, among some lower races, and it
appears that some tribes possess a word for the joy of love in a purely
psychic sense. But even among European races the evolution was late. The
Greek poets, except the latest, showed little recognition of love as an
element of marriage. Theognis compared marriage with cattle-breeding.
The Romans of the Republic took much the same view. Greeks and Romans
alike regarded breeding as the one recognizable object of marriage; any
other object was mere wantonness and had better, they thought, be
carried on outside marriage. Religion, which preserves so many ancient
and primitive conceptions of life, has consecrated this conception also,
and Christianity—though, as I will point out later, it has tended to
enlarge the conception—at the outset only offered the choice between
celibacy on the one hand and on the other marriage for the production of
offspring.
Yet from an early period in human history a secondary function of sexual
intercourse had been slowly growing up to become one of the great
objects of marriage. Among animals, it may be said, and even sometimes
in man, the sexual impulse, when once aroused, makes but a short and
swift circuit through the brain to reach its consummation. But as the
brain and its faculties develop, powerfully aided indeed by the very
difficulties of the sexual life, the impulse for sexual union has to
traverse ever longer, slower, more painful paths, before it reaches—and
sometimes it never reaches—its ultimate object. This means that sex
gradually becomes intertwined with all the highest and subtlest human
emotions and activities, with the refinements of social intercourse,
with high adventure in every sphere, with art, with religion. The
primitive animal instinct, having the sole end of procreation, becomes
on its way to that end the inspiring stimulus to all those psychic
energies which in civilization we count most precious. This function is
thus, we see, a by-product. But, as we know, even in our human
factories, the by-product is sometimes more valuable even than the
product. That is so as regards the functional products of human
evolution. The hand was produced out of the animal fore-limb with the
primary end of grasping the things we materially need, but as a
by-product the hand has developed the function of making and playing the
piano and the violin, and that secondary functional by-product of the
hand we account, even as measured by the rough test of money, more
precious, however less materially necessary, than its primary function.
It is, however, only in rare and gifted natures that transformed sexual
energy becomes of supreme value for its own sake without ever attaining
the normal physical outlet. For the most part the by-product accompanies
the product, throughout, thus adding a secondary, yet peculiarly sacred
and specially human, object of marriage to its primary animal object.
This may be termed the spiritual object of marriage.
By the term “spiritual” we are not to understand any mysterious and
supernatural qualities. It is simply a convenient name, in distinction
from animal, to cover all those higher mental and emotional processes
which in human evolution are ever gaining greater power. It is needless
to enumerate the constituents of this spiritual end of sexual
intercourse, for everyone is entitled to enumerate them differently and
in different order. They include not only all that makes love a gracious
and beautiful erotic art, but the whole element of pleasure in so far as
pleasure is more than a mere animal gratification. Our ancient ascetic
traditions often make us blind to the meaning of pleasure. We see only
its possibilities of evil and not its mightiness for good. We forget
that, as Romain Rolland says, “Joy is as holy as Pain.” No one has
insisted so much on the supreme importance of the element of pleasure in
the spiritual ends of sex as James Hinton. Rightly used, he declares,
Pleasure is “the Child of God,” to be recognized as “a mighty storehouse
of force,” and he pointed out the significant fact that in the course of
human progress its importance increases rather than diminishes. While it
is perfectly true that sexual energy may be in large degree arrested,
and transformed into intellectual and moral forms, yet it is also true
that pleasure itself, and above all, sexual pleasure, wisely used and
not abused, may prove the stimulus and liberator of our finest and most
exalted activities. It is largely this remarkable function of sexual
pleasure which is decisive in settling the argument of those who claim
that continence is the only alternative to the animal end of marriage.
That argument ignores the liberating and harmonising influences, giving
wholesome balance and sanity to the whole organism, imparted by a sexual
union which is the outcome of the psychic as well as physical needs.
There is, further, in the attainment of the spiritual end of marriage,
much more than the benefit of each individual separately. There is, that
is to say, the effect on the union itself. For through harmonious sex
relationships a deeper spiritual unity is reached than can possibly be
derived from continence in or out of marriage, and the marriage
association becomes an apter instrument in the service of the world.
Apart from any sexual craving, the complete spiritual contact of two
persons who love each other can only be attained through some act of
rare intimacy. No act can be quite so intimate as the sexual embrace. In
its accomplishment, for all spiritually evolved persons, the communion
of bodies becomes the communion of souls. The outward and visible sign
has been the consummation of an inward and spiritual grace. “I would
base all my sex teaching to children and young people on the beauty and
sacredness of sex,” writes a distinguished woman of today; “sex
intercourse is the great sacrament of life, he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily eateth and drinketh his own damnation; but it may be the most
beautiful sacrament between two souls who have no thought of children.”
To many the idea of a sacrament seems merely typo for ecclesiastical,
but that is a misunderstanding. The word “sacrament” is the ancient
Roman name of a soldier’s oath of military allegiance, and the idea, in
the deeper sense, existed long before Christianity, and has ever been
regarded as the physical sign of the closest possible union with some
great spiritual reality. From our modern standpoint we may say, with
James Hinton, that the sexual embrace, worthily understood, can only be
compared with music and with prayer. “Every true lover,” it has been
well said by a woman, “knows this, and the worth of any and every
relationship can be judged by its success in reaching, or failing to
reach, this standpoint.”
I have mentioned how the Church—in part influenced by that clinging to
primitive conceptions which always marks religions and in part by its
ancient traditions of asceticism—tended to insist mainly if not
exclusively on the animal object of marriage. It sought to reduce sex to
a minimum because the pagans magnified sex; it banned pleasure because
the Christian’s path on earth was the way of the Cross; and though
theologians accepted the idea of a “Sacrament of Nature” they could only
allow it to operate when the active interference of the priest was
impossible, though it must in justice be said that, before the Council
of Trent, the Western Church recognized that the sacrament of marriage
was effected entirely by the act of the two celebrants themselves and
not by the priest. Gradually, however, a more reasonable and humane
opinion crept into the Church. Intercourse outside the animal end of
marriage was indeed a sin, but it became merely a venial sin. The great
influence of St. Augustine was on the side of allowing much freedom to
intercourse outside the aim of procreation. At the Reformation, John à
Lasco, a Catholic Bishop who became a Protestant and settled in England,
laid it down, following various earlier theologians, that the object of
marriage, besides offspring, was to serve as a “sacrament of
consolation” to the united couple, and that view was more or less
accepted by the founders of the Protestant churches. It is the generally
accepted Protestant view today.[50] The importance of the spiritual end
of intercourse in marriage, alike for the higher development of each
member of the couple and for the intimacy and stability of their union,
is still more emphatically set forth by the more advanced thinkers of
today.
Footnote 50:
It is well set forth by the Rev. H. Northcote in his excellent book,
_Christianity and Sex Problems_, (2nd edition, 1916, F. A. Davis
Company, Philadelphia), especially Ch. XIII.
There is something pathetic in the spectacle of those among us who are
still only able to recognize the animal end of marriage, and who point
to the example of the lower animals—among whom the biological conditions
are entirely different—as worthy of our imitation. It has taken God—or
Nature, if we will—unknown millions of years of painful struggle to
evolve Man, and to raise the human species above that helpless bondage
to reproduction which marks the lower animals. But on these people it
has all been wasted. They are at the animal stage still. They have yet
to learn the A. B. C. of love. A representative of these people in the
person of an Anglican bishop, the Bishop of Southwark, appeared as a
witness before the National Birth-Rate Commission which, two years ago,
met in London to investigate the decline of the birth-rate. He declared
that procreation is the sole legitimate object of marriage and that
intercourse for any other end was a degrading act of mere
“self-gratification.” This declaration had the interesting result of
evoking the comments of many members of the Commission, formed of
representative men and women with various standpoints,—Protestant,
Catholic, and other,—and it is notable that while not one identified
himself with the Bishop’s opinion, several decisively opposed that
opinion, as contrary to the best beliefs of both ancient and modern
times, as representing a low and not a high moral standpoint, and as
involving the notion that the whole sexual activity of an individual
should be reduced to perhaps two or three effective acts of intercourse
in a life-time. Such a notion obviously cannot be carried into general
practice, putting aside the question as to whether it would be
desirable, and it may be added that it would have the further result of
shutting out from the life of love altogether all those persons who, for
whatever reason, feel that it is their duty to refrain from having
children at all. It is the attitude of a handful of Pharisees seeking to
thrust the bulk of mankind into Hell. All this confusion and evil comes
of the blindness which cannot know that, beyond the primary animal end
of propagation in marriage, there is a secondary but more exalted
spiritual end.
It is needless to insist how intimately that secondary end of marriage
is bound up with the practice of birth control. Without birth control,
indeed, it could frequently have no existence at all, and even at the
best seldom be free from disconcerting possibilities fatal to its very
essence. Against these disconcerting possibilities is often placed, on
the other side, the un-esthetic nature of the contraceptives associated
with birth control. Yet, it must be remembered, they are of a part with
the whole of our civilized human life. We at no point enter the
spiritual save through the material. Forel has in this connection
compared the use of contraceptives to the use of eye-glasses.
Eye-glasses are equally un-esthetic, yet they are devices, based on
Nature, wherewith to supplement the deficiencies of Nature. However in
themselves un-esthetic, for those who need them they make the esthetic
possible. Eye-glasses and contraceptives alike are a portal to the
spiritual world for many who, without them, would find that world
largely a closed book.
Birth control is effecting, and promising to effect, many functions in
our social life. By furnishing the means to limit the size of families
which would otherwise be excessive it confers the greatest benefit on
the family and especially on the mother. By rendering easily possible a
selection in parentage and the choice of the right time and
circumstances for conception it is again, the chief key to the eugenic
improvement of the race. There are many other benefits, as is now
generally becoming clear, which will be derived from the rightly applied
practice of birth control. To many of us it is not the least of these
that birth control effects finally the complete liberation of the
spiritual object of marriage.
ABORTION
_THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF OBSTETRICS. By Joseph De Lee, M.D...._
It is said that there is one abortion to eight labors, but in all
probability it is more frequent than this. Almost half of the
child-bearing women have had a miscarriage before the thirty-fifth year.
Statistics are of questionable value because hospital figures do not
represent the conditions of private practice. Further, many occur in
first weeks and pass under the diagnosis of delayed or profuse
menstruation. Finally, many abortions are deliberately concealed. Page
426.
_PRACTICE OF OBSTETRICS. By J. Clifton Edgar, M.D._
Immediate dangers of abortions are: hemorrhage, retention of an adherent
placenta, sepsis, tetanus, perforation of the uterus. They also cause:
sterility, anemia, malignant diseases, displacements, neurosis, and
endometritis. Pages 338–9.
_TRUCHTABTREIBUNG UND PRAVENTIVVERKEHR, IN ZUSAMMENHANG MIT DEM
GEBURTENRUCKGANG; Eine Medizinische, Juristische und
Sozialpolitische Betrachtung von Dr. Max Hirsch. Wurtzburg,
Kabitzsch Verlag, 1914._
He who would combat abortion and at the same time assail contraceptive
measures may be likened to the person who would fight contagious
diseases and forbid disinfection. For contraceptive measures are
important weapons in the fight against abortion. The use of
contraceptive measures is largely responsible for the fact that the
number of abortions does not increase immeasurably. The apprehension is
perfectly justified that the prohibition of contraceptive measures would
enormously increase the practice of abortion with its dangerous
consequences for the life and health of women. P. 131–2.
America has a law since 1873, if I am not mistaken, which prohibits by
criminal statute the distribution and regulation of contraceptive
measures. It follows therefore, as I have already stated in my
introduction, that America stands at the head of all nations in the huge
number of abortions. P. 132.
_THE DISEASES OF SOCIETY AND DEGENERACY. The Vice and Crime Problem.
G. F. Lydston, M.D., Professor of Genito-Urinary Surgery, State
University of Illinois; Professor of Criminal Anthropology,
Chicago; Kent College of Law; Member of the American Medical
Association, etc., etc. The Riverton Press, Chicago, 1912._
The familiar cry of “public demand” would fit the abortion business
better than it does some other things. The evil is wide-spread, both in
and out of matrimony. Its existence is recognized “under the rose” as a
social necessity, yet the law calls it murder. For every man and woman
caught in its commission and punished a thousand escape detection.
_THE DISEASES OF SOCIETY AND DEGENERACY. G. F. Lydston._
In many instances abortion results directly in the death of the woman.
Such are the consequences resulting from ungoverned natural law on the
one side, and moral on the other. It must be confessed that an element
of sympathy is evoked by the mental distress of the unfortunate woman
who is extra-matrimonially pregnant. P. 370.
_SEXUAL PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY. Wm. J. Robinson, Critic and Guide. 1912._
I have gone on record with the statement that about a million abortions
are brought about every year in the U. S. Exact statistics are not and
never will be available, but I am sure that my estimate is very
conservative, and that three million would be nearer the truth. Justice
John Proctor Clark stated that 100,000 abortions are performed annually
in New York City alone, and if these figures are correct, then the
number for the U. S. would be in the neighborhood of two and a half
million. P. 158.
There is one measure and one only which will positively do away with the
evil of abortion and that is teaching people how to prevent conception.
P. 164.
_ABORTION AND ECONOMIC NECESSITY. (Hirsch)._
According to a report in the _Medical Record_ 80,000 abortions are
performed annually in New York and only one case in 1,000 is brought
before the authorities.
According to Lewin it has been determined by court investigations that
there are at least 200 people in New York who make a profession of
performing abortions.
It has been estimated that 2,000,000 abortions are performed annually in
the U. S. P. 7.
Bertillon estimates the number of criminal abortions in Paris at 50,000
annually, in Lyons at 19,000. (Le depopulation de la France). P. 8.
We must first attack a very wide-spread fallacy, namely that abortion is
more prevalent among unmarried girls than among married women. In other
words, that it is concomitant with free sex relations. This fallacy is
exploded by practical medical experience as well as by observation and
statistics of social conditions. P. 23.
Among the causes of criminal abortion the fear on the part of the woman
of the pains and dangers of confinement plays a not inconsiderable role.
P. 54.
In marriage the cause for the practice of abortion springs in most cases
from economic necessity. Most frequently this necessity is a genuine
dire need arising from overcrowded quarters, lack of food and clothing,
sickness and lack of employment. P. 33.
This economic need finds its most obvious expression in the congestion
of the city populations. P. 34.
The dangers of childbirth are still serious enough to cause a certain
degree of uneasiness in the woman and the family circle. This foreboding
is due partly to our higher valuation upon health and life, and also to
a shifting of pre-eminence from a solely generative function in women to
other interests in their life. P. 84.
This greater consideration and valuation of woman’s individuality is the
expression of continued progress and a higher culture. P. 87.
_TRUCHTABTREIBUNG UND PRAVENTIVVERKEHR, In Zusammenhang mit dem
Geburtenruckzang; Eine medizinische, juristische und
sozialpolitische Betrachtung von Dr. Max Hirsch, Wurtzburg,
Kabitzsch Verlag, 1914._
In Chicago six to ten thousand abortions are performed yearly, of which
75–90% are married women. P. 7.
I believe I may say without exaggeration that absolutely spontaneous or
unprovoked abortions are extremely rare, that the vast majority—I should
estimate it at more than 80% of abortions have a criminal origin. P. 9.
We may affirm that next to sexual diseases, abortion and its
consequences are the most important factor in the etiology of chronic
genital inflammations and of sterility. P. 9.
Our examinations have informed us that the largest number of abortions
are performed on married women. This fact brings us to the conclusion
that contraceptive measures among the upper class, the practice of
abortion among the lower class, are the real means employed to regulate
the number of offspring. P. 32.
_THE SEXUAL LIFE OF WOMAN IN ITS PHYSIOLOGICAL, BIOLOGICAL AND
HYGIENIC ASPECTS. E. Heinrich Kisch. Translated by M. Eden Paul,
M.D. Rebman & Co., New York._
A means of insuring artificial sterility, which in all civilized
countries is punishable as a criminal offense, and which is nevertheless
very frequently practiced, is the artificial induction of abortion.
Especially in North America it would appear that there exist regular
professional abortionists. P. 413.
_THE FAMILY AND THE NATION. A Study in Natural Inheritance and Social
Responsibility. Wm. Cecil Dampier Whetham, M.A., F.R.S. Fellow and
Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Catherine Durning
Whetham. Longmans Green & Co., N. Y., Bombay and Calcutta, 1909._
There is no finality, a nation must either be losing or gaining ground,
either improving or degenerating. Hence the scientific study of the
effect of the existing conditions of any time on the rates of
reproduction of different stocks of the nation, should be the chief work
of the sociologist, and the control of these conditions the supreme duty
of the statesman. P. 5.