ABORTION EVIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 120, 17 November 1937, Page 15

ABORTION EVIL

DRINK CONDEMNED

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day.

Stressing *the urgent need of an examination of the moral standards of the community, the Rev. Clarence Eaton, who presided at the opening of the annual Synod of the North Canterbury district of the Methodist Church today, said that if it were true a test of a civilisation was the character and status of its women. The Mc^ Millan Report on Abortion gave good reason for concern on the part of those whose business it was to care for the moral health of the people. •

Referring to the Minister of Health's statement that steps were being taken to prevent the indiscriminate sale- of abortifacient drugs and appliances, Mr. Eaton said there was no mention of drastic action to prevent the hawking and indiscriminate, sale of contraceptives by unscrupulous chemists, small traders, and others. "Our measures must begin with the man, not- the woman,". he said. "Medical men importuned by desperate women to commit this crime testify- there is usually a male prompter in the background. The part drink plays in this sorry business has been recently stressed by one of our Supreme Court Judges. Indulgence in alcoholic liquor is said to be a common feature of weekend ■ sport. Respect for law and order is whittled away when sly grog-selling is winked at in clubhouse and pavilion. Leaders of sport may find club funds augmented at too great a cost to young manhood."