THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1937 A DISQUIETING REPORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22700, 12 April 1937, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1937 A DISQUIETING REPORT

Xbw Zealand's pride in itself is dealt a very damaging blow by the report of the committee set up to investigate the problem of abortion. Xo thoughtful citizen equipped with a rational conscience can fail to be ashamed and disturbed by the facts thus made public. These facts are none the less disquieting by reason of the long prevalence of a suspicion that they existed, even to the extent now revealed. When a section of the Xew Zealand branch of the British Medical Association asked the Prime Minister a year ago to have such an investigation adequately conducted, many Xew Zealanders i doubtless hoped that the suspicion would prove less well founded than the fears of others moved them to say it was. Xow none can find refuge. All are made convincingly ; aware of a state of affairs nationally : degrading and menacing. The cornI mittee has been evidently honest and judicial in inquiry, careful in deductions from ascertained facts, ! and broad-visioned in examining | causes and assessing the value of possible remedies. It is for the public now to face the facts without flinching. Hie more unpleasant they are, the greater is the necessity, the urgency, to deal thoroughly with them, in thought and action. Xew Zealand is on a slippery decline, and already so far down the awful slope that unconcern would be even worse than the facts disclosed. One pregnancy in every five is ended by abortion ; of the 6000 annual instancesj 4000 are criminally induced ; the maternal death-rate from abortion is one of the highest, if not the highest, in the world ; and there has been a definite increase in induced abortion during recent years. Of what worth are all the boasted virtues and achievements of this favoured country, able to point proudly to its material resources, its level of general education, its social amenities, even its vital statistics, when this is the state of things in a matter of deep moment ?

The committee has found that the main causes of resort to abortion are (1) economic and domestic hardship, (2) changes in social and moral outlook, (3) pregnancy among the unmarried, and (4) fears of childbirth. Its report discusses possible methods of mitigating these causes. For its considered views on measures for their removal, as far as that can be achieved, it merits more than thanks—the painstaking, thorough and resolute thought of all aroused by the recital of the facts. The subject is difficult: the causes are many and different, and the remedies attempted must be equally varied. In so far as economic and domestic hardship is responsible, there ought to be immediate attention to this phase of the problem; so with the rarer cause, fear of child-birth as a physical experience and risk. Wherever hardship or the dread of it induces abortion there is a clear call to treat this as a national responsibility, and the committee has helpfully made some suggestions which others must, work out. A large and complex field is here for expert study. One thing is clear: the rising cost of living is a factor demanding close, constant and direct attention. As to fear of child-birth, the committee rightly points the way to remedial action by the medical faculty. But concerning the other two causes —changes in social and moral outlook, and pregnancy among the unmarried—it is imperative to underline and extend what the committee has said. In these two causes are manifest the most terrible and shameful aspects of the matter. Economic and medical remedies are inapplicable to them. The committee touches this truth in saying that general financial improvement does not, itself, necessarily bring about larger families, and that limitation of the family is probably more prevalent among those more fortunately placed. This takes the problem into a realm where the economist and the medical practitioner can do little or nothing. What is fundamentally wrong is deeper than want of subsistence or want of knowledge; it is lack of morality, and in the presence of the committee's findings the grievous admission has simply got to be made. No sophistry of argument can evade it. Statistics reveal the fact that, irrespective of class, families tend to get smaller; and, in the light of this report, the frequent explanation is not found in impotence or continence but in a determination not to have children. There is preference for what is frankly called "a good time," which (to judge by the known popularity of contraceptives and the known prevalence of induced abortion) includes sexual enjoyment. When all is said that can be said about other causes, the moral phase of the problem of abortion, whether it concerns potential parents in wedlock or unmarried®persons, is too terribly evident to be denied. And no complete remedy is possible without a cleansing of the springs of moral Ufa, How'l By education'l Yes, if it be wise enough and go deep enough, And this means more than lessons in personal hygiene and social duty. It must be religious, deal reverently with holy things, safeguard sacred verities, prod lie# spiritual character, and deem pure h om&n parenthood the nearest w.oml experience to that of the 3/iviae C/taivr of jug all.