Physically and nervously, the woman of
to-day is not fitted to bear children as frequently as was her mother
and her mother's mother. The high tension of modern life and the
complicating of woman's everyday existence have doubtless contributed
to this result. And who of us can say, until a careful scientific
investigation is made, how much the rapid development of tuberculosis
and other grave diseases, even among the well-nurtured, may be due to
the depletion of the physical capital of the unborn by the too
prolific childbearing of preceding generations of mothers?
The immorality of bringing into being a large family is a wrong-doing
shared by three--the mother, the father and society. Upon all three
falls the burden of guilt. It may be said for the mother and father
that they are usually ignorant. What shall be said of society? What
shall be said of us who permit outworn laws and customs to persist in
piling up the appalling sum of public expense, misery and spiritual
degradation? The indictment against the large unwanted family is
written in human woe. Who in the light of intelligent understanding
shall have the brazenness to stand up and defend it?
One thing we know--the woman who has escaped the chains of too great
reproductivity will never again wear them.
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