RACE-SUICIDE IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 271, 1 September 1944, Page 20

RACE-SUICIDE IN NEW ZEALAND

(Written for "The Listener’ by DR.

H.

B.

TURBOTT

Director of the Division

of School Hygiene, Health Department)

HERE have been signs of agitation about abortion in New Zealand. Church authorities, the Press, and other agencies are showing evidence of alarm. To draw attention, some of these interested people are becoming alarmists, making dogmatic statements of the extent of the canker in our midst. Some of the estimates place abortions at one for every two pregnancies in our country. This is too high. Let us look at other countries, before we examine ourselves. Abortion has existed as long as the human race. Intentional abortion has been frowned on from the earliest times, Over 400 years B.C. the Hippocratic Oath bound the physician-"I will give no woman a pessary to produce abortion." That is still medical ethics. The founder of obstetrics and gynaecology, Soranus, 100 years A.D., prohibited the performance of abortion by mechanical means. Early Persian medicine, A.D. 999, prescribed severe punishment for criminal abortions, As we have become more civilised, we have not decreased intentional abor-tions-it would seem to be commoner than in the bad old times. In Germany in 1924, abortions were estimated at two to each three confinements. By 1927 the ratio there was one to one. In Poland, Warsaw, 1930, showed one abertion to four confinements. France in 1930, estimated one abortion to one pregnancy. England, 1936, was estimated at one abortion to five confinements. What of ourselves? In 1936 the Committee of Inquiry into abortion in New Zealand estimated that there was one abortion to every five confinements. There are about seven natural abortions in each one hundred pregnancies, and 13 induced ones. Now there seems to be no great increase since this committee met -the deaths from abortions have: remained steady. So we can use the committee’s ration, and say that in 1941, the last year for which birth figures are available, there were about 4,600 abortions,. unlawfully produced by the woman herself, or by some other person. What Happened in Russia One nation saw that a similar drain was going on, by underground means, and decided to carry out a huge experiment, legalise abortion, control it, and save lives. That was Soviet Russia in 1920. By 1929 in Moscow, abortions were 61 per cent in excess of normal births, Time went on. Although ll abortions were done by doctors and under the very best conditions, another factor emerged besides the loss of lives. Forty-three per cent of women suffered definite illness afterwards. The vast national, experiment proved that the (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) race-suicide could not be controlled by legalised abortion, nor could abortion be made easy or safe for any woman. So in 1936 Soviet Russia prohibited abortion except on medical grounds Abortion is harmful to the nation. Purposeful production of abortions, except for medical reasons, is regarded in most countries as murder. It spells slow race-suicide. But it is also dangerous to the individual, and that is what few New Zealanders seem to realise. Intentional abortions carry the risk of sepsis and death; they also may seriously damage the health of the mother. I have mentioned how in Russia almost half the women who sought abortion had illness afterwards. That was why the State stopped it. And do not forget that skilled doctors did it! When unqualified people interfere, the «risks of sepsis and trouble afterwards are increased tremendously. The commonest after-trouble is pelvic inflammation with chronic invalidism. There may be permanent sterility When an abortion has occurred, there is a tendency to repetition, and when a family is desired later, it may not be possible. If drugs are used to procure abortions, there is a risk of serious damage to liver and kidneys from the chemicals used. These risks are increased in the unmarried, as there is the desire for concealment, and lack of appreciation of the seriousness of the symptoms until too late. No! Abortion is a highly dangerous method of birth control! Approximately one woman in every two adopting this dangerous practice risks ending up a chronic invalid, and may be unable to have children later if she changes her mind, The nation suffers increasingly, for the children lost by abortions would not only increase the birth-rate now, but would do so again 20 or more years later when they raised their own families. A Challenge This race-suicide is a call to all men and women. Men begin all the trouble. It is high time every man in New Zealand who condones this practice realised its seriousness. I am putting it bluntlysuch a man is assisting in the destruction of human ‘life. Call it what you like, but I call it murder! ' Above all, intentional abortion is a challenge to our womanhood. It used to be more prevalent in unmarried girls. The significant thing about it of recent years is that the figures show it to be increasing in married women. Women of New Zealand — you can stop this increasing abortion by organised action among yourselves. Your national organisations lately seem to think the Government has the key, to prevention. Good housing, big enough homes for families, allowances for families, economic family sufficiencyyes, you can fairly ask the Government to realise how these things affect, the question of having families, and seek action on these things. But do not stop there. Discuss the question of abortion within your own organisations. Find out just how much there is within your own Fs many abortions to children each member has had. Then start a campaign among women, run by women, to stop race-suicide.. The perpetuation of our race is the responsibility of each generation, 4