Birth control and the medical practitioner.

Date:
[between 1900 and 1999]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Birth control and the medical practitioner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    child-birth, and there are others which make the bear¬ ing- of children entirely undesirable. We may quote from the report of the influential medical committee on the Medical Aspects of Contraception, published in 1927. Dealing with the reasons for the use of contraceptives, the report says : “As this is a medical report, only reasons based on medical grounds can be given here. The indications for the use of contraceptives include diseases of an hereditary character, such as some forms of insanity, and in addition syphilis, incurable diseases such as non-compensated heart disease, Bright’s disease and tuberculosis; also conditions that make child-bearing dangerous, such as pelvic deformity, tumours, severe debliity and varicose veins, caused by frequent child-bearing. Poverty, deficient housing accommodation, etc., are not within the scope of a medical enquiry.” But it is of interest that the Committee, which took a great deal of evidence from experts of wide experience, was reluctant to exclude poverty altogether from its findings. In another part of the report it is stated : “ We are of opinion that no impediment should be placed in the way of those married couples who desire information as to contraceptives, when this is needed for medical reasons or because of excessive child-bearing or poverty.”