[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sta,—There is a question relative to the declining birth-rate which I should like to add to the serious list posed by Mr. Lloyd. .
It is this : Do we, broadly speaking, endorse the principle of voluntary parenthood ? Or are we prepared, for racial or other ends, . to conscript parents through ignorance or legal compulsions ? That seems to me a question of first-rank importance in the approach to all population questions.
This is one of the countries where gradual education, free discussion and the democratic representation of opinion can still show their merits. And I put in a plea, firstly, for the idea that parenthood should be undertaken when the parents think it wise and desirable and as rarely as possible enforced against their judgement : an idea neither acknowledged nor acted upon yet in England ; and secondly, if an increase in the birth-rate becomes a government policy, for a more democratic handling of the opinions of potential parents than is common in our health services.—Yours, &c.,
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