A Judge on Birth-Control
Mr. Justice McCardie, in another of his many striking judgements, has just expressed himself strongly and sanely on birth-control. He had before him at Leeds Assizes a woman with seven children charged with committing abortion to prevent the birth of an eighth. Sir Henry MeCardie, after giving it as his opinion that these islands are over-populated (which is arguable), and that a judge ought to administer the law in the light of his view of the law's wisdom (which is a good deal more arguable), added that knowledge of birth-control ought to be widely extended, particularly among those who live in very poor and unhappy circumstances. That conviction has fortunately gained ground steadily in this country in recent years. Birth-control methods are many of them still in the experimental stage, and know- ledge of them ought to be imparted in the form of skilled advice, not of scraps of information picked up haphazard anywhere. At present maternity centres are permitted by the Ministry of Health to give advice on birth-control in cases where further child-bearing would be detri- mental to health, but not more than about forty local authorities in the country have availed themselves of this very limited opportunity. In addition there arc about twenty voluntary clinics giving information more freely. And meanwhile puny babies their parents cannot support arc being borne in hundreds of thousands by women whom repeated pregnancies have dragged down into permanent ill-health and wretchedness.
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