MORAL STANDARDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23352, 18 November 1937, Page 12

MORAL STANDARDS

URGENT NEED OF EXAMINATION THE ABORTION PROBLEM PART PLAYED BY DRINK (Per United Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Nov. 17. 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 to-day, said' that if it were true that the test of a civilisation was the character and statu;? of its women the McMillan 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 statement of the Minister of Healtli (Mr P. Fraser) that steps were being taken to prevent the indiscriminate sale of 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 with the woman,” he continued. “ Medical men, importuned by desperate women to commit this crime, testify there is usually a male promoter in the background. The part drink plays in this sorry business has been recently stressed _by ■ one of our Supreme Court judges. It is the contents of a man’s hip flask that makes slippery for heedless womanhood the downward path. The breakdown is in masculine chivalry and self-control. Indulgence in alcoholic liquor is said to be a common feature of week-end sport. “Respect for law and order,” Mr Eaton concluded, “is whittled away when sly-grog selling is winked at in the club house and the pavilion. The leaders of sport may find their club funds augmented great a cost to young manhood.”

OMINOUS SYMPTOMS NATIONAL DELINQUENCY DEPARTURE FROM RELIGION (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Nov. 17. _ « The most ominous symptoms in the realm of public morals to-day is the widespread departure from the observance of religion,” said the Rev. E. D. Patchett, in opening the annual Methodist District Synod today. “State semi-paganism weakens the moral fibre of the nation. Real religion and lofty moral standards go hand in hand. When a nation exhausts its spiritual capital it lowers its power of resistance to the inroads of moral infection.” He added that with natural pride in one’s country and its people one hesitated to review some of the recently published evidence 'of moral drift;, and yet to open up this festering sore was the quickest way to its healing. “The report of the committee set up by the Government to investigate the problem of criminal abortion constitutes a sad chapter in the story df widespread national delinquency,” Mr Patchett said. “Looking beneath the surface it becomes apparent that the crux of the problem is the home. The Christian home is the best place on earth for character building. To enlist the practical sympathy of the womanhood of the country gives the greatest promise of solving this manysided problem. We need legislative action, but the more urgent need is a quickened public conscience and the lifting of moral ideals in corrupt society. Man cannot escape the blame, but it is one of the chief glories of a woman that in the moral realm the race is fundamentally in her keeping.” After referring to other social evils, Mr Patchett said there was need in the Dominion for a branch of the British Public Morality League to give coherence and unity to the growing volume of opinion in favour of public action.

PRESBYTERIAN ATTITUDE ABORTION AND BIRTH CONTROL APPROVAL IN CERTAIN CASES (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Nov. 17. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to-night expressed its definite views on the practice of therapeutic abortion and conception control for married people. The following resolutions, submitted by the Public Questions Committee, were adopted by the assembly:— “ That the Government should be urged to alter the law in the matter of therapeutic abortion so as to make lawful that which is at present practised by consent, and at the same time to provide safeguards against its abuse.” “ That the assembly condemns the practice of birth control from motives of selfishness or mere convenience, stresses the duty of responsible parenthood, and recognises the right of parents to space and limit their families by conception control, but stresses the spiritual value of self-discipline in the marriage relationship.” A further resolution adopted was —“'That the Government should be urged to introduce legislation regulating the sale of contraceptives and prohibiting their sale to young people.” On the subject of the sterilisation of the unfit, the committee’s report stated that it was not prepared to give approval even with the most stringent safeguards. Medical opinion was so divided as to results that the committee did not see that there was anything to be gained by it. The committee would have liked to have brought in a different report on the subject of euthanasia as a means of bringing relief to sufferers, but the dangers inherent in any such proposals were so great that it could see no way of overcoming the difficulties at the present time. The reports were adopted.