Criminal Abortion Scourge

Northern Advocate, 28 May 1938, Page 10

Criminal Abortion Scourge

[Per Press Association. Copyright.] WELLINGTON, This Day.

A number of recommendations are to be made to Parliament by the Dominion conference on the problem of criminal abortion, which met at Wellington yesterday. The recommendations cover such matters as sex education of children and parents, family spacing, concessions to parents in respect of children, and domestic assistance for mothers.

After the publication of the MacMillan Report, the Bishop of Wellington, the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland, instituted a citizens’ committee, which in March made a statement on the problem. A conference was convened subsequently by the Bishop, Professor J. B. Dawson, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Otago, Mrs J. D. Mackay, of Christchurch, and Dr. Hilda Northcroft, of Auckland. Representative Gathering-. Opening the conference. Professor Dawson expressed sympathy with the Bishop, , who was absent owing to an injury received in a recent motor accident. There were present about 60 persons from many parts of the Dominion, representing almost every social organisation, profession and church. Some represented local committees that had already considered the agenda of the conference. About 40 items, based on the statement of the Wellington Citizens’ Committee, were discussed. The decisions in general endorsed the proposal to continue and extend the work of the conference. A Dominion Association for Social Hygiene is to be created. It was decided that recommendations should be forwarded to Parliament, as the conference considered the subject should not be made a party issue.