ABORTION PROBLEM

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 419, 28 April 1937, Page 7

ABORTION PROBLEM

CLERGY’S MANIFESTO Immediate Action Demanded Press Association— Copyriisht Auckland, April 27. Apprecia ion of th.. action of the Government, in se ting up a committee of inquiry into the vurious aspects of the problem of abortion in New Zealand and approval of the .borough investigation made and of Hi candour of the findings of the commute ’ are expressed in a. manifesto signed by Archbishop A. W. Averill as Bishop of Auckland and issued after a conf -rence of ths bishop and 45 of he clergy of the diocese of Auckland. The manifet o declares: “Criminal abortion is murder, being the. d liberate d ©truction of life already begun. It, is a sin against God, a sin against socio'y and a sin against the human body I s continued practice must mean racial suicide. “The unrestricted and suit ptitious sale and d.’.s* ribu'tion of ■•on.'racep •vs. abortifacien-t drugs and v’.lc liteii -lure, to young people especially, and the unblushing exposure for sal * of disgusting illustra ed papers are wrong and are grievously undermin'ng the moral fibre ’of thousands. The conference demands that the Gov rnm.ent d al drastically and at once with lies? evils. “The conference app als Io men fochivalry and self-sacrifice in regard to the conduct of .heir sex lives, to ill paren 's, guard ians an*d tela chert t' realise that all education in such matters must rest upon spiritual ’oundp: ions, because true moral! y •an continue to exist only where th law; of God are taught and honour'd, and to all sorious.minded people who have at heart the moral 'Welfare of th ir nation to restore the religigious and moral standards which God hat given us and upon which alone our civilisation has been built and can con inue.”