Seven reasons for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases (Women's) Acts 1866-1869 / issued by the City of London Committee for obtaining the repeal of those Acts.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Seven reasons for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases (Women's) Acts 1866-1869 / issued by the City of London Committee for obtaining the repeal of those Acts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    same warning in a recent official Report, calculated to make moral and thoughtful men shudder.* There is no safety but in retreat, by the total, immediate and unconditional repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866-9; to he followed by legislation for the more effectual treatment of all who are diseased, whether male or female, virtuous as well as vicious; for the greater discouragement of pro- curing, harbouring, and soliciting, and the more effectual protection of children, the orphaned, and the inexperienced against the cruel wiles of the seducer. The Seven Reasons, given above, by no means exhaust the argument for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases (Women’s) Acts. Dor instance, the very important Religious and Moral aspects of the question are hut briefly touched upon. These have been dealt with separately and more at length in a Memorial addressed by the City Committee to His Grace the Archbishop oe Canterbury ; and in pamphlets by the Very Rev. Dean Close, and the Rev. Henry Batchelor, a minister of religion residing in one of the subjected districts. The reader is referred for further information to these works and other publications on the cover hereof. The statistics of disease in Paris, where the regulation system has been longest in operation, disclose that “ during five years ending with December, 1869, the proportion of registered prostitutes who were found syphilitic had increased from 100-35 to 139*12 per 1000 ! ! ”—Vide Pamphlet by Scottish National Association, as above. * As it regards Brussels.—M. Lenaers, the Chief Commissioner of the Brussels police, reported to the Burgomaster only last year, that after thirty years of a system which had been recognized as the most complete in existence, and taken as a model by various administrations, prostitution had so greatly developed in Brussels that it called for new measures. He accordingly, after an elaborate examination of the state of the case, actually made the following proposals, all of which have been carried into effect!!! —viz.:— “ 1. Multiplication of tolerated brothels and houses of accommodation. 2. Registration on the rolls of prostitution of minors (children) and married women without the previous consent of parent or husband. 3. Facility to young women, not prostitutes, as well as to married women, to meet their lovers with perfect security (! !) TN houses of accommodation. 4. Liberty to prostitutes to walk the streets from midnight to midday, with the EXCEPTION OF CERTAIN PROMENADES AND PUBLIC THOROUGHFARES.” It is utterly impossible that good hygienic results can follow such an outrage upon the moral law.