The changed attitude of the American Press indicates that enlightened
public opinion no longer tolerates a policy of silence upon a question
of the most vital importance. Almost simultaneously in England and
America, two incidents have broken through the prejudice and the guarded
silence of centuries. At the church Congress in Birmingham, October 12,
1921, Lord Dawson, the king's physician, in criticizing the report of
the Lambeth Conference concerning Birth Control, delivered an address
defending this practice. Of such bravery and eloquence that it could
not be ignored, this address electrified the entire British public. It
aroused a storm of abuse, and yet succeeded, as no propaganda could, in
mobilizing the forces of progress and intelligence in the support of the
cause.
Just one month later, the First American Birth Control Conference
culminated in a significant and dramatic incident. At the close of the
conference a mass meeting was scheduled in the Town Hall, New York City,
to discuss the morality of Birth Control. Mr. Harold Cox, editor of the
Edinburgh Review, who had come to New York to attend the conference, was
to lead the discussion. It seemed only natural for us to call
together scientists, educators, members of the medical profession,
and theologians of all denominations, to ask their opinion upon this
uncertain and important phase of the controversy. Letters were sent to
eminent men and women in different parts of the world. In this letter we
asked the following questions:--
1.
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