UNFIT FOR PARENTHOOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15550, 6 March 1914, Page 7

UNFIT FOR PARENTHOOD.

AUSTRALASIAN MARRIAGES.

DECISION BY A CONFERENCE.

By Telegraph— Association—Copyright. Melbourne, March 5. The Australasian Women's Conference has decided to approach the Government with a view to an amendment of the marriage law to prevent the marriage of those unfit for parenthood. " A LOVELESS AGE." Knowledge of eugenics will replace sentiment in the making of future marriage contracts, stated Dr. A. J. Ochsner, of Chicago, at a meeting of the Southern Surgical and Gynaecological Association in Atlanta a few weeks ago. The result, he declared will be a virtually lo\eless age, for he said:—"Mankind is unmistakably drifting toward an era when health will play a most important part in marriage, and it is not improbable that there will come a time when sentiment will be a minor factor in the formation of marriage contracts- The doctrine of eugenics is rapidly coming into favour throughout the world. The trend of modern thought is toward its general application. Eugenics is only the general recognition of the fact that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and an admission of the truth of the statement that the health of the child is determined largely by the health of the parents."