INTRODUCTION.
There is no need for any one to explain to the working men and women in America what this pamphlet is written for or why it is necessary that they should have this information. They know better than I could tell them, so I shall not try.
I have tried to give the knowledge of the best French and Dutch physicians translated into the simplest English, that all may easily understand.
There are various and numerous mechanical means of prevention which I have not mentioned here, mainly because I have not come into personal contact with those who have used them or could recommend them as entirely satisfactory.
I feel there is sufficient information given here, which, if followed, will prevent a woman from becoming pregnant unless she desires to do so.
If a woman is too indolent to wash and cleanse herself, and the man too selfish to consider the consequences of the act, then it will be difficult to find a preventive to keep the woman from becoming pregnant.
Of course, it is troublesome to get up to douche, it is also a nuisance to have to trouble about the date of the menstrual period. It seems inartistic and sordid to insert a pessary or a suppository in anticipation of the sexual act. But it is far more sordid to find yourself several years later burdened down with half a dozen unwanted children, helpless, starved, shoddily clothed, dragging at your skirt, yourself a dragged out shadow of the woman you once were.
Don't be over sentimental in this important phase of hygiene. The inevitable fact is that unless you prevent the male sperm from entering the womb, you are going to become pregnant. Women of the working class, especially wage workers, should not have more than two children at most. The average working man can support no more and the average working woman can take care of no more in decent fashion. It has been my experience that more children are not really wanted, but that the women are compelled to have them either from lack of foresight or through ignorance of the hygiene of preventing conception.
It is only the workers who are ignorant of the knowledge of how to prevent bringing children in the world to fill jails and hospitals, factories and mills, insane asylums and premature graves.
The working women can use direct action by refusing to supply the market with children to be exploited, by refusing to populate the earth with slaves.
It is also the one most direct method for you working women to help yourself today.
Pass on this information to your neighbor and comrade workers. Write out any of the following information which you are sure will help her, and pass it along where it is needed. Spread this important knowledge!
The Small Family System: Is it Injurious or Immoral? by Dr. C. V. Drysdale. B. W. Huebsch, New York City.
The Problem of Race-Regeneration, by Havelock Ellis, Moffat, Yard & Co., New York City.
The Task of Social Hygiene, by Havelock Ellis. Houghton Mifflin & Co., Boston, Mass.
The Limitation of Offspring by the Prevention of Conception, by Dr. Wm. J. Robinson, Critic & Guide Co., New York City.
"What Every Girl Should Know" by Margaret Sanger.
Paper cover, 25 cents.
Cloth cover, 50 cents.
"What Every Mother Should Know" by Margaret Sanger.
Paper cover, 25 cents.
Cloth cover, 50 cents.
The above are obtainable from Max Maisel, 424 Grand Street, New York City.
"The Birth Control Review" Edited by Margaret Sanger.
One Dollar a Year
104 Fifth Ave., New York City.
A NURSE'S ADVICE TO WOMEN.
Every woman who is desirous of preventing conception will follow this advice:
Don't wait to see if you do not menstruate (monthly sickness) but make it your duty to see that you do.
If you are due to be "sick" on the eighth of August, do not wait until the eighth to see, but begin as early as the fourth to take a good laxative for the bowels, and continue this each night until the eighth.
If there is the slightest possibility that the male fluid has entered the vagina, take on these same nights before retiring, five or ten grains of quinine, with a hot drink. The quinine in capsule form is considered fresher, but if this is taken do not use alcoholic drinks directly after, as it hardens the capsules, thus delaying the action of the quinine.
By taking the above precautions you will prevent the ovum from making its nest in the lining of the womb.
Women of intelligence who refuse to have children until they are ready for them, keep definite track of the date of their menstrual periods. A calendar should be kept, on which can be marked the date of the last menstruation, as well as the date when the next period should occur.
Women must learn to know their own bodies, and watch and know definitely how regular or irregular they are: if the period comes regularly every twenty-eight days (normal) or every thirty days as is in the case of many young girls.
Mark it accordingly on your private calendar; do not leave it to memory or guess work.
Only ignorance and indifference will cause one to be careless in this most important matter.
A very good laxative (though it is a patent medicine) is Beechams Pills. Two of these taken night and morning, four days before menstruation, will give a good cleansing of the bowels, and assist with the menstrual flow. Castor oil is also a good laxative.
The American Physicians may object to this advice because Beechams Pills are a patent medicine. But until they are willing to give open advice on this subject, we must resort to such as the least harmful, until such time as they do.
If a woman will give herself attention BEFORE the menstrual period arrives, she will almost never have any trouble, but if she neglects herself and waits to see if she "comes around," she is likely to have difficulty.
If the action of quinine has not expelled the semen from the uterus, and a week has elapsed with no signs of the menstrual flow, then it is safe to assume conception has taken place.
Any attempt to interfere with the development of the fertilized ovum is called an abortion.
No one can doubt that there are times where an abortion is justifiable but they will become unnecessary when care is taken to prevent conception.
This is the only cure for abortions.
There is current among people an idea that conception can take place only at certain times of the month. For instance: ten days after the menstrual period, and four or five days before the next period. This is not to be relied upon at all, for it has been proven again and again that a woman can conceive at any time in the month. Do not depend upon this belief, for there is no reliable foundation for it. There is also the knowledge that nursing after child-birth prevents the return of the menstrual flow for several months and conception does not take place. It is well not to depend upon this too much, especially after the fifth or sixth month, for often a woman becomes pregnant again without having "seen anything" or without her realizing that she has become pregnant. She thus finds herself with one at the breast and another in the womb. Use some preventative.
