MORAL VALUES OF NATION

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24986, 21 September 1946, Page 8

MORAL VALUES OF NATION

PROBLEMS OF ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTION

ALTERATIONS TO LAWS SUGGESTED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept 20. Some attention is devoted to the problems of abortion and contraception in the report of the Select Committee on Population, which was tabled in the House of Representatives to-day. The report states, however, that no new evidence beyond that submitted in the McMillan report in 1937 was produced. It. therefore, endorses the report after pointing out that, in a number of cases, the recommendations of that committee had already been implemented. The committee makes the comment that basically the problem is one of the moral and spiritual values of the nation. The failure of juries to convict in abortion cases, it states, is merely a reflex of the low moral standards of the community. "The present law is sufficiently drastic to meet the situation, but until the community realises the gravity of this national evil no legislation will be satisfactory.” Concerning contraceptives, the committee endorses a suggestion that the sale be confined to registered pharmacists, medical practitioners, or clinics associated with public hospitals. Here again, it states, the problem is of the moral standards of the community. The necessity for the development of the sex education of the adolescent section of the community is suggested by the committee, which, after commenting that the primary responsibility is that of parents adds that specialised medical officers. perhaps school medical officers should be given the task. It emphasises, however, that no mere crude education as to sex functions will achieve that moral uplift which is necessary if the nation is to obtain the high moral standards which are desirable. The committee makes an exhaustive analysis of birth-rate trends. The birth-rate last year was 23.22 a 1000. ■which was higher than it had been since 1931, and indications for the present year are that the rate will be higher still. The committee suggests that, although some recession of the birth-rate is likely, it will not fall to . the low point reached during the depression. The committee was unable to express any opinion as to the positive effects of the family benefits scheme and other social security benefits on the birth-rate, but considered these benefits would remove sotne of the economic disincentives to the raising of families. Families have fallen in size. Before the 1918 war the average family was lust more than three. It ia to

vicinity of two and a half. The committee found that there is a very steady tendency to reduce the size of families, and there are indications that marriages are lasting longer before the birth of the first child, pointing, to some extent, to a positive attitude to the limitation of families.