Birth control laws : $b shall we keep them, change them, or abolish themDennett, Mary Ware
History
Birth control laws : $b shall we keep them, change them, or abolish them
Dennett, Mary Ware
Birth control; Birth control -- Law and legislation -- United States
Indeed, on the part of some of the proponents of limited legislation
there seems to be a definite intention not to let the public realize
that there is or could be a choice as to the type of bills which our
legislators are asked to pass. A striking example of this tendency
has appeared in New Jersey. Circular letters are going the rounds
asking the public to endorse a “doctors only” and married-people-only
bill, as shown in Appendix No. 8. The State organizer of the American
Birth Control League who has charge of this work, was asked if he had
“ever considered submitting a choice of bills to the public” he was
“circularizing to see which they would prefer asking the Legislature
to pass, a limited measure or a simple repeal act?” He answered thus:
“It is a hard enough job to educate the public to see the necessity for
birth control as a general proposition, without confusing the issue by
asking them to express an opinion or choice as between two possible
measures, about neither of which they know very much. Even if such a
questionnaire were possible, I would not make it.” It is noticeable
that the letters which are being circulated asking for endorsement
do not inform the New Jersey people much of anything even about the
limited bill proposed. Yet the endorsement which these New Jersey
citizens send in will be used to convince the Legislature that the
people want this particular bill, as proved by their endorsements. It
goes without saying that those who collect the endorsements will not
then state that they did not trust the people to know what they wanted
themselves.
Further indication of unwillingness on the part of the “doctors only”
group to have the public get a full and free comprehension of the two
radically different types of legislation that have been proposed, has
been the repeated refusal of the “doctors only” proponents to debate
the subject in open meeting. The proponents of the freedom bill on the
other hand have made many efforts to pool the points held in common
between the two groups, and to iron out the differences so that a sound
joint legislative platform would be the result. It may be illuminating
to the reader to see the terms of a recent effort on the part of the
proponents of the freedom bill to get together with the proponents of
the exemption bill drafted by Mr. Worthington. They are embodied in a
Memorandum which was sent by the freedom bill group to the exemption
bill group preliminary to a proposed conference. The exemption bill
group refused to confer. The Memorandum reads as follows:
1. _Proposed legislation should be tested_ for its _soundness_ as
law, its _enforceability_, and its _adequacy_ to meet the people’s
need.
2. It can be assumed that everyone sincerely interested in the birth
control movement, from whatever angle, will want all laws to meet
these tests.
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