SOCIAL PROBLEM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22726, 12 May 1937, Page 5

SOCIAL PROBLEM

WOMEN'S RECOMMENDATION INQUIRY INTO THE LAW [BY TKLKGItAPit —FRRSS ASSOCIATION] NEW PLYMOUTH, Tuesday A tremendous wave of public opinion bad developed as a result of the disclosures in the report of the committee which investigated abortion in New Zealand, and she had been besieged with inquiries about avenues to approach a remedy, said I)r. Doris Gordon, addressing in her private capacity a public meeting of .300 women. The meeting passed resolutions thanking the Government for its action and asking that the commission, with a judge as chairman, inquire into the machinery of the law relating to criminal abortion and recommending legislation to control the sale of contraceptives and abortifacients. t Dr. Gordon said that the Women's Institute's resolution at New Plymouth, asking, inter alia, for a commission to overhaul existing legal machinery, had brought endorsement and offers of help from all over New Zealand. By 10 o'clock on the night, of that meeting the Hon. W. E. Barnard, president of the Five Million Club, had telephoned his approval, stating that he hoped women all over the Dominion would similarly take up the matter. There was an obvious demand for a carefully developed plan for concerted action by all interested in the Dominion's population and the preservation of its lionip life, and a Dominion-wide scheme was under consideration.

The definite endorsement of leading citizens had been received for the request that a commission, with a judge as chairman, consider the legal aspects to bring the medical findings of the committee to fruition. Any co-ordin-ated action toward a remedy by education, moral and sociological reform would be vitiated, Dr. Gordon said, if the law proved as ineffectual as in past years.