Parenthood attacked

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33230, 21 May 1973, Page 6

Parenthood attacked

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent) LONDON, May 17.

How many women expand their horizons beyond the confines of nappies, potties and midnight feeds? Very few, according to Ellen Peck, from Baltimore, in London to launch her controversial American best-seller, "The! Baby Trap.” Her book, published to coincide with Population Day last Saturday — a national campaign calling for legal limitation of two children a family — says that children can, 'and often do, destroy happy marriages. Mrs Peck, married for nine vears and childfree—she prefers the word to “childless” —by choice, is well-known in the United States for her articles and lectures on maririage, sexuality, ecology, and adolescence. She helped to •start the National Organisation for Non-Parents there. Most of the researching for her book was done among her friends, but she has also included masses of statistics apparently proving that childfree couples are less prone to divorce, have more friends ;in their old age and are more emotionally stable. She strongly attacks the media which idealise motherhood, manufacturers who depend on a steady output of babies for their profits, and relatives and friends who put on young couples to (have children.