The book is presented to American citizens in the hope that it may be a useful service. It makes no pretense at literature and it is not propaganda. It is not a legal brief nor a piece of academic research. It simply talks over the subject in an untechnical fashion, from the human standpoint, with the idea that most thinking, well-meaning people want our laws to represent common sense, justice and practicability; and that they want them to harmonize with our heritage of American ideals of freedom and self-government. Although informal in its presentation, every effort has been made to include only statements for which there is authority from original sources. The main points are given in the body of the book, and the appendices give detail and authorities, for the use of those who are interested to check up and be more thorough in their consideration. The first part of the book explains just what our present laws provide, and how they happened to be the way they are. The second part analyzes the various propositions that have been made for changing the laws, and the reasons offered by their advocates. The third part makes an effort to show the basis on which to differentiate between sound and spurious legislation, and the tests by which it may be determined what the people really want, underneath their upper layer of careless acquiescence, inhibition or inertia. If the author did not have an abiding faith in the fundamental sound sense, good intentions and latent ideality of the average American citizen, this book would not have been written. M. W. D. New York City 1926. CONTENTS PART I WHAT SORT OF LAWS HAVE WE NOW? CHAPTER PAGE I. THE SITUATION 3 The actual situation under federal and state law—Not even parents can lawfully inform their married children about how to space their babies—No doctor can lawfully or adequately study the control of conception—Provisions of the federal law—Scope of state laws—Clinics under state laws—Access to birth control information not only criminal, but classed with obscenity—Control of conception confused with abortion—Precise meaning of term birth control in modern application—Not a crime to control parenthood but a crime to find out how—What if that principle were applied to some other scientific knowledge, making automobiles, for instance? II. HOW IT HAPPENED 19