Margaret Sanger - Dutch Methods of Birth Control

Dutch Methods of Birth Control — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Dutch Methods of Birth Control" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

12345

Transcribers Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

DUTCH METHODS
OF
BIRTH CONTROL.

BY

MARGARET H. SANGER.

DUTCH METHODS OF BIRTH CONTROL.

The following methods are taken from the pamphlet published by the Neo-Malthusian League of Holland, called Methods Used to Prevent Large Families, translated into English from the Dutch.

The Council of the Neo-Malthusian League calls attention to the fact that it has for its sole object the Prevention of Conception, and not the causing of abortion.

The Neo-Malthusian League of Holland knows nothing of this pamphlet, and is not in any way responsible for its publication.

M. H. S.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE.

In the year 1877 Mrs. Annie Besant and Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, two firm and honest advocates of the doctrine of Malthus, were prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment for publishing a book entitled The Fruits of Philosophy, which presented the physiological aspects of birth control.

The trial lasted several days, and aroused a greater interest in the subject than had been known since the days of Malthus. The English Press was full of the subject; scientific congresses gave it their attention; many noted political economists wrote about it; over a hundred petitions were presented to Parliament requesting the freedom of open discussion; meetings of thousands of persons were held in all the large cities; and as a result, a strong Neo-Malthusian League was formed in London.

Interest in the subject did not confine itself to England, however, for the following year at an International Medical Congress in Amsterdam the subject was discussed with great enthusiasm. A paper prepared and read by Mr. S. Van Houten (later Prime Minister) caused a wider interest in the subject, and a year later the Neo-Malthusian League of Holland was organised. Charles R. Drysdale, then President of the English League, attended the Conference.

As is usual in such causes, many of the better educated and intelligent classes adopted the practice at once, as did the better educated workers; but the movement had as yet no interest among the poorest and most ignorant. The League set to work at once to double its efforts in these quarters. Dr. Aletta Jacobs, the first woman physician in Holland, became a member of the League, and established a clinic where she gave information on the means of prevention of conception free to all poor women who applied for it.

Naturally, this action on the part of a member of the medical profession aroused the animosity of many of its members against her; but Dr. Jacobs stood firm in her principles, and continued to spread the necessary information among the peasant women in Holland in the face of professional criticism and gross misunderstandings.

All classes, especially the poor, welcomed the knowledge with open arms, and requests came thick and fast for the Leagues assistance to obtain the necessary appliances free of charge. The consequence has been that for the past twelve years the League has labored chiefly among the people of the poorest districts. Dr. J. Rutgers and Madame Hoitsema Rutgers, two other ardent advocates of these principles, have devoted their lives to this work. Dr. Rutgers says that where this knowledge is taught there is a reciprocal action to be observed: In families where children are carefully procreated, they are reared carefully; and where they are reared carefully, they are carefully procreated.

The Neo-Malthusian League of Holland has over 5,000 men and women in its membership, and more than fifty nurses whom it endorses.

THE DISTRICT NURSES.

These nurses are trained and instructed by Dr. Rutgers in the proper means and hygienic principles of the methods of Family Limitation. They are established in practice in the various towns and cities throughout Holland. They not only advise women as to the best method to employ to prevent conception, but they also supply them with a well-fitted pessary, and teach them how to adjust, remove, and care for itall for the small sum of 1 guilder, or about 60 cents. They work mainly in the agricultural and industrial districts, or are located near them; and their teachings include not only the method of prevention of conception, but instruction in general and sexual hygiene, cleanliness, the uselessness of drugs, and the non-necessity of abortions.

In this country, for a nurse to dare to fit a woman with a pessary would be considered a breach of professional rights. In Holland, they know the poor cannot pay the physicians, and this simple adjustment is looked upon by the medical profession much as they view the nurse administering an enema or a douche.

I had the pleasure of attending some of the classes where Dr. Rutgers gave this course of instruction. I also attended and assisted in the clinics where women came to be advised, instructed, and fitted. Many of them came for the first time, and though they were unacquainted with any means to be employed, they accepted the instructions in a most natural and intelligent manner. Other women came to be refitted, and many brought the pessary previously used, to ask questions concerning its adjustment.

There was a determined social responsibility in the attitude of these peasant women coming into The Hague from the surrounding districts. It seemed like a great awakening. They look upon a new baby in the family much as they look upon the purchase of an automobile or a piano or any other luxury where they have no room to keep it, and no means with which to purchase it or to continue in its upkeep.

There is no doubt that the establishment of these clinics is one of the most important parts in the work of a Birth Control League. The written word and written directions are very good, but the fact remains that even the best educated women have very limited knowledge of the construction of their generative organs or their physiology. What, then, can be expected of the less educated women, who have had less advantages and opportunities? It is consequently most desirable that there be practical teaching of the methods to be recommended, and women taught the physiology of their sex organs by those equipped with the knowledge and capable of teaching it.

The Neo-Malthusian League of Holland endorses, as the most reliable means of prevention of conception, the Mensinger pessary (which differs in construction from the French or the American Mizpah pessary). The nurses also recommend this; but other methods are discussed with the patient, and the husbands attitude toward other methods considered and discussed. The pessary is the commonest recommendation, as giving the most satisfactory results.

RESULTS.

It stands to the credit of Holland that it is perhaps the only country where the advocates of Birth Control have not been prosecuted or jailed. This does not mean there has been no opposition to this propaganda; on the contrary, there is to-day strong opposition by the Church, and only a few years ago, in 1911, when a Clerical Government came into power, laws were made against the propagation of these ideas, and much of the freedom previously enjoyed by the League was denied it; but on the expulsion of the Clerical Government later on, the rights of free speech and free press were regained.

In the year 1895 the League was given a royal decree of public utility, which again does not necessarily mean this propaganda is sanctioned by the Government; but the laws regarding the liberty of the individual and the freedom of the press uphold it, and it is thus that its advocates are not molested.

Next page

12345

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Dutch Methods of Birth Control»

Look at similar books to Dutch Methods of Birth Control. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Winter Russell

Debate on birth control. Margaret Sanger and Winter Russell

Margaret Sanger

Family Limitation

Margaret Sanger

Magnetation Methods of Birth Control

Jean H. Baker

Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion

Margaret Forster

Significant Sisters: The Grassroots Of Active Feminism, 1839-1939

Margaret Sanger

What Every Girl Should Know

Margaret Sanger

The Case for Birth Control

Margaret Sanger

The Autobiography of Margaret Sanger

Jules Archer

The Feminist Revolution: A Story of the Three Most Inspiring and Empowering Women in American History: Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, and Betty Friedan

Zorea

Birth Control

Cullen-DuPont Kathryn

Margaret Sanger: an autobiography

Chesler Ellen

Woman of valor: Margaret Sanger and the birth control movement in America

Discussion, reviews of the book Dutch Methods of Birth Control and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.