Birth Control - A Statement of Christian Doctrine against the Neo-Malthusians

Halliday G. Sutherland

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• Publié par: henut
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 31
• Langue: English

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Title: Birth Control Author: Halliday G. Sutherland Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8773] [This file was first posted on August 12, 2003] Edition: 10 Language: English

**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****

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BIRTH CONTROL A Statement of Christian Doctrine against the Neo-Malthusians BY HALLIDAY G. SUTHERLAND, M.D. (Edin.)

E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BIRTH CONTROL ***

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CHAPTER II THE FALSE DEDUCTIONS CONCERNING POVERTY Section 1. BIRTH-RATEAND POVERTY(a) Famines (b) Abundance (c) Wages Section 2. POVERTYIN GREAT BRITAIN DUETO OTHER CAUSES (a) Under-development (b) Severance of the Inhabitants from the Soil Section 3. CAUSES OFPOVERTYIN INDIA Section 4. POVERTYIN FACT CAUSES A HIGH BIRTHRATE(a) Malthusianism is an attack on the Poor (b) A Hindrance to Reform (c) A Quack Remedy for Poverty Section 5. POVERTYAND CIVILISATION

CHAPTER V IS THEREA NATURAL LAW REGULATINGTHEPROPORTION OFBIRTHS AND DEATHS? Section 1. THETHEORYOFTHOMAS DOUBLEDAYREVIVED Section 2. MR. PELL'S GENERALISATIONS CRITICISED Section 3. THELAW OFDECLINE Section 4. ILLUSTRATED FROM GREEK HISTORY (a) Moral Catastrophe in Ancient Greece (b) The Physical Catastrophe induced by Selfishness

CHAPTER IV HOW RELIGION AFFECTS THE BIRTHRATE Section 1. FRENCH STATISTICS MISINTERPRETED BYMALTHUSIANS Section 2. EVIDENCEFROM HOLLAND Section 3. THEUNITED STATES OFAMERICA Section 4. THESAMERESULTS IN ENGLAND

CHAPTER III HIGH BIRTH-RATES NOT THE CAUSE OF HIGH DEATH-RATES Section 1. POVERTYAS NOW EXISTING Section 2. HIGH BIRTH-RATENOT THECAUSEOFHIGH DEATH-RATE: PROVED FROM STATISTICS (a) Canada (b) Connaught Section 3. A LOW BIRTH-RATENO GUARANTEEOFA LOW DEATH-RATE Section 4. VITAL STATISTICS OFFRANCE Section 5. COEFFICIENTS OFCORRELATION

CHAPTER VII THEEVILS OFARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL Section 1. NOT A PHYSICAL BENEFIT (a) A Cause of Sterility (b) Neuroses (c) Fibroid Tumours Section 2. A SCANDALOUS SUGGESTION Section 3. A CAUSEOFUNHAPPINESS IN MARRIAGE Section 4. AN INSULT TO TRUEWOMANHOOD Section 5. A DEGRADATION OFTHEFEMALESEX Section 6. SPECIALLYHURTFUL TO THEPOOR (a) Affecting the Young (b) Exposing the Poor to Experiment (c) Tending towards the Servile State Section 7. A MENACETO THENATION (a) There is a Limit to lowering the Death-rate (b) Birth Control tends to extinguish the Birth-rate (c) A Danger to the Empire (d) The Dangers of Small Families Section 8. THEPLOT AGAINST CHRISTENDOM

CHAPTER IX THETEACHINGOFTHECATHOLIC CHURCH ON BIRTH CONTROL Section 1. A FALSEVIEW OFHER DOCTRINE Section 2. THEESSENCEAND PURPOSEOFMARRIAGE Section 3. ARTIFICIAL STERILITYWHOLLYCONDEMNED Section 4. THEONLYLAWFUL METHOD OFBIRTH CONTROL Section 5. CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHAPTER VIII THE RELIGIOUS ARGUMENT AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL Section 1. AN OFFENCEAGAINST THELAW OFNATURE Section 2. REFLECTED IN THENORMAL CONSCIENCE Section 3. EXPRESSED IN THESCIENCEOFETHICS Section 4. BIRTH CONTROL CONDEMNED BY PROTESTANT CHURCHES APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII A NEO-MALTHUSIAN ATTACK ON THECHURCH OFENGLAND

 BSSMAY HULTANSIVARGDETAUOD ELTB ON. Section 4. AG TCREO  FCOUCAPITD AN.  3RAHA CTO AL LARUT noitceS WE TOY DUE NA SOMI  NILENLITIEFTR.2 nCED eS SE oitc CERAIVPTO  TNTCO EAMNIYLESTR ,UDSIANS ASS MALTHUA ,TON .1 noitceS MIS

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THE ESSENTIAL FALLACIES OF MALTHUSIAN TEACHING Section 1. MALTHUS AND THENEO-MALTHUSIANS Birth control, in the sense of the prevention of pregnancy by chemical, mechanical, or other artificial means, is being widely advocated as a sure method of lessening poverty and of increasing the physical and mental health of the nation. It is, therefore, advisable to examine these claims and the grounds on which they are based. The following investigation will prove that the propaganda throughout Western Europe and America in favour of artificial birth control is based on a mere assumption, bolstered up by economic and statistical fallacies; that Malthusian teaching is contrary to reason and to fact; that Neo-Malthusian practices are disastrous alike to nations and to individuals; and that those practices are in themselves an offence against the Law of Nature, whereby the Divine Will is expressed in creation. (a) Malthus The Rev. Thomas Malthus, M.A., in 1798 published his Essay on the Principle of Population . His pamphlet was an answer to Condorcet and Godwin, who held that vice and poverty were the result of human institutions and could be remedied by an even distribution of property. Malthus, on the other hand, believed that population increased more rapidly than the means of subsistence, and consequently that vice and poverty were always due to overpopulation and not to any particular form of society or of government. He stated that owing to the relatively slow rate at which the food supply of countries was increased, a high birth-rate [1] inevitably led to all the evils of poverty, war, and high death-rates. In an infamous passage he wrote that there was no vacant place for the superfluous child at Nature's mighty feast; that Nature told the child to be gone; and that she quickly executed her own order. This passage was modified in the second, and deleted from the third edition of the Essay. In later editions he maintained that vice and misery had checked population, that the progress of society might have diminished rather than increased the "evils resulting from the principle of population," and that by "moral restraint" overpopulation could be prevented. As Cannan has pointed out, [2] this last suggestion destroyed the force of the argument against Godwin, who could have replied that in order to make "moral restraint" universal a socialist State was necessary. In order to avoid the evils of overpopulation, Malthus advised people not to marry, or, if they did, to marry late in life and to limit the number of their children by the exercise of self-restraint. He reprobated all artificial and unnatural methods of birth control as immoral, and as removing the necessary stimulus to industry; but he failed to grasp the whole truth that an increase of population is necessary as a stimulus not only to industry, but also as essential to man's moral and intellectual progress. (b) The Neo-Malthusians The Malthusian League accept the theory of their revered teacher, but, curiously enough, they reject his advice "as being impracticable and productive of the greatest possible evils to health and morality." [3] On the contrary, they advise universal early marriage, combined with artificial birth control. Although their policy is thus in flat contradiction to the policy of Malthus, there are two things common to both. Each is based on the same fallacy, and the aim of both is wide of the mark. Indeed, the Neo-Malthusian, like Malthus, has "a mist of speculation over his facts, and a vapour of fact over his ideas." [4] Moreover, as will be shown here, the path of the Malthusian League, although at first glance an easy way out of many human difficulties, is in reality the broad road along which a man or a nation travels to destruction; and as guides the Neo-Malthusians are utterly unsafe, since they argue from (a) false premises to (b) false deductions. We shall deal with the former in this chapter.

tually

Section 2. TEACHING BASED ON FALSE PREMISES

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