Conception Control and Its Effects on the Individual and the Nation, page 9 by Florence E. Barrett
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from her honeymoon and said, "Mother, how long must we wait before having children--is it really necessary to prevent them for a year or two? We are both dying to have babies."
A young couple on the eve of marriage consulted a gynæcologist regarding the question of using the cap pessary to prevent the possibility of having children for a few years.
The bride, who was greatly distressed, produced the pessary which she had purchased, and said she could not possibly use it; her fiancé, however, had been advised that she could, and ought to do so, hence the first serious dispute had arisen between them, clouding the future.
She was told by her doctor that it was quite impossible for her, and this fully satisfied the future husband.
The next point was if this method were impossible what should be used.
They were a splendid young couple, with ample means to support a family, and the doctor naturally asked--"But for what purpose do you need any methods to prevent children at all?" They hesitated and looked at each other, and then said--"I don't know, but we thought it was the thing to do."
They left with the whole nightmare put aside, determined not to spoil the perfect consummation of their happiness.
Many similar cases might be quoted where young people, without any considered motive, are acting in accordance with the vogue of the moment.
2. The use of contraceptives does not encourage self-control, yet the cultivation of self-control is a far higher gain to the individual and the nation than any apparent advantages obtained by its abandonment.
By no means unimportant is the influence that wide diffusion of the knowledge of how to prevent conception would have in causing more irregular unions and greater promiscuity in sex relations. The effect of this would not only loosen, rather than strengthen, the marriage tie, but would inevitably lead to an extension of venereal disease. Many people seem to think that contraceptives prevent venereal dis