Page:Contraception; 1st ed. (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.94163).pdf/228

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CONTRACEPTION

following words! "In my opinion the main present obstacle to the complete success of the [birth control] movement in Britain is not the arguments against it nor the reactionary irrational opposition which confronts every beneficent and simple plan for the amelioration of mankind. It is the notorious false shame of the Anglo-Saxon race. We do not like to talk seriously about the use of contraceptives."[1] It would be quite impossible to deal with all the prejudices against the subject, but it may not be out of place to take up point by point some of the more prominent statements masquerading as "arguments" and to demonstrate how most of them depend on a false interpretation, or an incomplete knowledge, of essential facts.

Pseudo-Scientific Objections.

Many of these objections to the practice of contraception would, I expect, be classed as "scientific" by those who raise them. They crop up in the most unexpected places and are found tacked on to thesis of great variety. Were I writing a complete historical memoir on the subject, it would be worth while to record the

  1. ↑ Arnold Bennett: Preface in "Fecundity versus Civilization," by Adelyne Moore. London, 1916.

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