Sterilization? birth control? : a book for family welfare and safety / by Helen Macmurchy.

  • MacMurchy, Helen, 1862-1953.
Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sterilization? birth control? : a book for family welfare and safety / by Helen Macmurchy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which prevent conception. These methods are now widely used in every class of society. There are many who advocate them as the solution of social and personal problems, there are others who con¬ demn them as sinful, there are many who are sorely perplexed as to the legitimacy of their use. We feel, therefore, bound to give troubled consciences some guidance on this matter. . . . We are convinced that many of the results which have followed from the use of the discovery of more effective methods are very grave. They have encouraged illicit inter¬ course among the unmarried by removing the fear of consequences. They have been frequently used to avoid the responsibilities of parenthood and as a means of escaping from the self-control which should be exercised in married as well as in single life. They have become a danger to many civilized nations by a disproportionate reduction of their best stocks. We think that some of those who are most active in the advocacy of birth control do not give sufficient weight to these considerations. ‘Tt will be admitted by all that there are circum¬ stances in married life which justify, and even de¬ mand, the limitation of the family by some means. The Church is concerned with the moral principles which must govern all such limitation. There are certain principles which must always be axiomatic for Christians. These principles are to be discerned in loyalty to Christ, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, whose strength is sufficient for all human needs. “It is axiomatic that parenthood is for married people the foremost duty; to evade or disregard that duty must always be wrong. It is equally axiomatic that the state of marriage is a divinely ordered re¬ lationship in which intercourse between man and woman calls for the highest exercise of the Christian virtues of self-discipline, self-control and self- sacrifice. There are multitudes of married people