Born out of poverty

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 13

Born out of poverty

Poverty was the spark that led to the formation of the Family Planning Association in New Zealand.

Overseas the early advocates of birth control — Britain’s Annie Besant and America's Margaret Sanger — were speaking out in the 1880 s. Spurred on by the activities of the suffragettes, these women paved the way for the opening of a birth control clinic in London and a mobile caravan clinic. But it was not until the Depression years of the 1930 s that the family planning issue came to public notice in New Zealand.

At this time, the McMillan Committee was set up to see what could be done about the high incidence of illegal abortions.

As a result of the publicity about the problem, small groups of New Zealand women began meeting with the aim of spreading knowledge of birth control methods. By 1935, the Sex Hygiene and Birth Regula-

tion Society had been formed. Its name was later changed to the Family Planning Association. When the McMillan report came out in 1937 it said that most women who died after an illegal abortion were married with four or more children. The report recommended that birth control clinics be set up in public hospitals.

The report said that, at a conservative estimate, one pregnancy in every five ended in abortion. By contrast in 1980, approximately one in 10 pregnancies were aborted. There were at. least 6000 abortions a year during the early 19305, 4000 of them illegal. the number of abortions increased markedly during the Depression years. The number of women who died from septic abortions increased nearly three-fold from 1927 to 1934. The committee concluded

that economic hardship was the major cause. Over the years the family planning clinics have become more accepted, but they were not well received at the beginning, mainly on grounds of morality and fears that the New Zealand population would decline. It was not until 1953 that the first New Zealand family planning clinic opened in Auckland. Patients had to

show that they were married or prove that they were about to be married. In 1956 a second clinic was opened in Christchurch. During the next 15 years the association’s involvement in the community grew. In 1971, Health Department staff were given permission to refer women to their family doctor or to a family planning clinic for contraceptive advice. •