The Case for Birth Control: A Supplementary Brief and Statement of FactsSanger, Margaret
Science
The Case for Birth Control: A Supplementary Brief and Statement of Facts
Sanger, Margaret
Birth control; Eugenics
The fact that a mother takes up her housework in the early days of her
baby’s life does not necessarily increase the danger of its death. In
some cases, however, mothers stated that the quantity of their breast
milk was noticeably impaired when they got up and resumed their work too
soon. Naturally this would affect the baby’s nutrition. In other cases a
mother’s cares and duties may be so absorbing that she can not give the
baby full attention. Whatever the exact explanation, attention should be
called to the greater frequency of infant deaths when the mother resumed
household duties very soon after childbirth.
A statement of the time of the mother’s resumption of household duties
in full, like that giving the time of resumption in part, shows that the
native mothers have the longer period of rest.
TABLE 29.—DISTRIBUTION OF LIVE BIRTHS AND OF DEATHS DURING FIRST YEAR,
AND INFANT MORTALITY RATE, ACCORDING TO TIME OF MOTHER RESUMING ALL
HOUSEHOLD DUTIES AFTER CONFINEMENT, BY NATIVITY OF MOTHER.
═══════════════════════════╤══════════════════════════╤════════════════
TIME OF RESUMING ALL │ │ DEATHS DURING
HOUSEHOLD DUTIES AFTER │ LIVE BIRTHS TO— │ FIRST YEAR.
CONFINEMENT. │ │
───────────────────────────┼────────┬────────┬────────┼──────┬─────────
│ All │ Native │Foreign │ │ Infant
│mothers.│mothers.│mothers.│Total.│mortality
│ │ │ │ │ rate.
───────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼──────┼─────────
Total │ 1,463│ 815│ 648│ 196│ 134.0
═══════════════════════════╪════════╪════════╪════════╪══════╪═════════
8 days or less │ 219│ 13│ 206│ 37│ 168.9
9 to 13 days │ 182│ 132│ 50│ 30│ 164.8
14 days or more │ 1,053│ 663│ 390│ 123│ 116.8
Mother died or not reported│ 9│ 7│ 2│ 6│ ([29])
───────────────────────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴──────┴─────────
Footnote 29:
Total live births less than 50; base therefore considered too small to
use in computing an infant mortality rate.
The infant mortality rates for all mothers in the group just referred
to, according to the time of resuming housework in full after
childbirth, show fewer infant deaths proportionately when the mother has
had a longer rest; that is, a rest of two weeks or more.
ECONOMIC FACTORS
EARNINGS OF FATHER
A grouping of babies according to the income of the father shows the
greatest incidence of infant deaths where wages are lowest, and the
smallest incidence where they are highest, indicating clearly the
relation between low wages and ill health and infant deaths.
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