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
In all there were but 88 stillbirths included in the investigation. They
were more numerous proportionately among the Germans than among the
mothers of any of the other nationalities. No single nationality group,
however, has a very large representation, and hence a comparison of the
rate for one with that for another nationality is not as significant as
the difference in rate between native and foreign mothers. Although a
special study of the causes of stillbirths was not made in connection
with a study of deaths of infants during their first year of life,
nevertheless the incidence of these births among the different
nationality groups is believed to be of some interest, and therefore
shown in the next table. (Omitted.)
ATTENDANT AT BIRTH
The native mother usually had a physician at childbirth; the
foreign-born, a midwife. The more prosperous of the foreign mothers,
however, departed from their traditions or customs and had physicians,
while the American-born mothers, when very poor, resorted to midwives.
The midwives usually charged $5, and sometimes only $3; they waited for
payment or accepted it in installments, and they performed many little
household services that no physician would think of rendering.
Two-thirds of those having no attendant were Serbo-Croatians. It was a
Polish woman, however, who gave the following account of the birth of
her last child:
At 5 o’clock Monday evening went to sister’s to return washboard, having
just finished day’s washing. Baby born while there; sister too young to
assist in any way; woman not accustomed to midwife anyway, so she cut
cord herself; washed baby at sister’s house; walked home, cooked supper
for boarders, and was in bed by 8 o’clock. Got up and ironed next day
and day following; it tired her, so she then stayed in bed two days. She
milked cows and sold milk day after baby’s birth, but being tired hired
some one to do it later in week.
This woman keeps cows, chickens, and lodgers; also earns money doing
laundry and char work. Husband deserts her at times; he makes $1.70 a
day. A 15-year-old son makes $1.10 a day in coal mine. Mother thin and
wiry; looks tired and worn. Frequent fights in home.
The infant mortality rate was lower for babies delivered by physicians
than for those delivered by midwives or for those at whose birth no
properly qualified attendant was present. This is not necessarily an
indication of the quality of the care at birth, although in some cases
the inefficiency of the midwife may have directly or indirectly caused
deaths, just as in some instances a physician’s inefficiency may have
caused them. The midwife, however, is resorted to by the poor, and in
their homes are found other conditions that create a high infant
mortality rate.
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