Social and political effects of birth control in England

Social and Political Effects of Birth Control in England

In England, there have been changes in the laws that govern birth control, just as there have been in many countries. In the early part of the 20th century family planning on a more deliberate level began to appear in England. This was largely due to the continued efforts of Marie Stopes (1880-1958), who was an advocate for birth control in England throughout her entire life (Briant, 1962). It was not even until the second decade of the 20th century, however, that birth control began to be seen as something important, realistic, and necessary.

Up until that time women simply bore as many children as they conceived and methods to avoid conceiving them were not readily available (Briant, 1962). Women that were raped, that were the victims of incest, that had turned to prostitution, or that had medical conditions that made it difficult and/or dangerous for them to bear children had little choice in the matter, and eventually it became clear that something had to be done to correct this because these women were being harmed by a male-run society that left them no choices when it came to their own bodies (Hall, 1977). While there were some contraception methods available and some women did use them, these women were seen as being unfeminine, abnormal, or immoral, which prompted many women to avoid 'birth control' - a phrase which was not even officially coined until 1914 (Rose, 1992).

The idea of the importance of contraception actually began early on in the 19th century. At that time, much of the inspiration for that kind of movement came from a book called "An Essay on the Principle of Population" which was written in 1798 by a British political economist named Thomas Malthus (Hall, 1924). In his book he argued that the population of the world would eventually grow to the point that the earth would not be able to actually support it. If this took place, famine, poverty, epidemics, and other significant and frightening problems would plague the human race. However, if there were ways to prevent this - such as allowing couples to control the number of children that they created - the population would not grow so quickly and the earth would be better able to support the people that call it home (Hall, 1924, Hall, 1977, Rose, 1992).

It was not that long before other Britons became advocates for the prevention of pregnancies and the first such advocate who is now deemed historically significant was Francis Place (1771-1854) (Briant, 1962). He was considered to be very revolutionary, especially in that day and age when so many things were much more taboo than they are today (Briant, 1962, Hall, 1977). In 1822, Place authored a book entitled "Illustrations and Proofs of the Principle of Population" which actually did not suggest practical methods of contraception but was instead designed to influence the social policy that was seen in England during that time period (Briant, 1962).

Marie Stopes, however, was interested in what could be practically done as opposed to the other issues that many were focusing on. In March of 1921, with the help of her husband Humphrey Roe, she opened the first birth control clinic in England (Briant, 1962). It was located in North London and remained open until 1977 (Rose, 1992). The only reason that it was closed down then was because reproductive health care in England was nationalized. One thing that helped Stopes, however, was that she had many political connections with upper-class individuals and she was able to create and enforce a number of very strict rules regarding her clinic so that she did not experience the kinds of problems that were seen in clinics of the same type in other countries such as the United States (Briant, 1962). One of the main rules of Stopes' clinic was that she would not offer birth control to anyone who could not prove that she had already born at least one child. Not everyone liked these rules, but Stopes remained firm (Hall, 1977).

Legal troubles were few where Stopes and her clinic were concerned (Briant, 1962). She courted those in the political right and she wrote pamphlets and books instead of moving out of her safe haven to campaign on the streets for birth control and women's rights. She was flamboyant and confrontational when needed, however, and this gave her a great deal of publicity for her cause, which ultimately continued to help more and more women (Rose, 1992, Hall, 1977). This was important for children as well because history indicates that abortion rates rise when contraception is deliberately restricted, and when both are restricted the rates of infanticide rise alarmingly (Briant, 1962). Most individuals that were advocates of birth control early on in 20th century England avoided advocating abortion rights, with the exception of Stopes (Briant, 1962).