BIRTH CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 36, 11 February 1926, Page 9

BIRTH CONTROL

NATIONAL POLICY CONDEMNED,

(Anstralian-New Zealand Cable Assn.) (Received 11th February, 11 a.m.)

LONDON, 10th February.

In the House of Commons, the motion of Mr. E. Thurtle (Lab.) for leave to introduce a Bill empowering local authorities to impart birth control knowledge to poor women, on the grounds that' Such knowledge should not be limited to well-to-do people, was rejected by 167 votes to 81. The Rev. Mr. Barr (Lab.) warmly condemned Mr. Thurtle's Bill as propaganda for a national policy of birth control. This was, economically, a policy of despair. The member declared that a liberal, bountiful Creator had provided ample resources for everyone with a wise production, and a just distribution. "Moral instincts, or religious prejudices, ifiyou prefer the term," he said, "are most potent influences uplifting mankind. They are as sure a guide as science itself. If they are defied, it will be at the peril of the State." He cited the refusal of the Labour Conference at Liverpool to make birth control a political issue.