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" People have ceased to regard abortion as murder, which it undoubtedly is."
Federal Member Seeks to Ban
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Manufacture of Contraceptives Ministerial Concern Over Increase of Abortion The following correspondence, which has passed between Mr. A, A Colwell, M.H.R., and Federal Ministers, will be of great interest to the Catholic community, as it deals with those vital questions of contraception, abortion and marriage loans, which have absorbed Catholics these many years, but have become of national import only through the shock of war :
MR. CALWELLS CORRESPONDENCE WITH MINISTERS. Mr, A, A, Colwell, M,H.R., has received the following reply from Mr. J. J. Dedman, Minister for War Organisation of Industry, regarding the use of contraceptive devices which he is urging the Government to ban: "Minister for War Organisation of Industry, "Box 2831AA, G.P.O.. "Melbourne, Cl., "7th. September, 1942.
"Dear Mr. Colwell,"I acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 31st. August, 1942, in which you make certain comments on my letter of the 26th, ultimo. "While you made no reference to V.D., my reference was germane to the issues raised in your original letter, in that the use of contraceptives is advocated by many medical authorities as a means of controlling V.D. "I must register my disagreement with your statement that I 'lightly dismissed' the use of contraceptives, The 'deep-seated social disease' to which I referred was not immorality, but the decision, on the part of married couples, either to have no children at all or to limit the size of their families This decision to a smaller number, could be the result of a course of conduct not involving the use of any contraceptive device, and, therefore not involving immorality in the generally accepted sense, "As emphatically as yourself, I condemn the use of contraceptives in so
*Marriage Loans Advocated as Positive Remedial Measure far as this promotes promiscuous sexual intercourse. "The resolution passed by the A.L.P., Coogee, is noted; I thank you for drawing my attention to it-Yours faithfully, "JOHN J. DEDMAN. "Arthur A. Calwell, Esq., "Parliament House, "Canberra, A.C.T."
GREAT NATIONAL DANGER. Mr. Calwell has written the following letter to Mr, E, J, Holloway, Minister
for Social Services:
"9th. September, 1942.
"Dear Mr. Holloway,"Please accept my congratulations on the action which you have taken to It deal with the contraceptive evil. is particularly gratifying to note from your press announcement that this is only 'the first step towards meeting this great national danger,' The next steps, I suggest, are: "(1) The banning of manufacture of contraceptives. "(2) The introduction of Regulations under the National Security Act to deal %%IL,. abortion, "(3) The introduction of a system of marriage loans, "I believe the main difficulty in the way of banning the manufacture of contraceptives is the practice of issuing them to members of the fighting forces, To overcome this, I made a suggestion a month or so ago to the Prime Minister, in his capacity as Minister for Defence that he invite the Minister for the Army, the Minister for the Navy, and the Minister for Air, to try out a plan successfully adopted by that eminent authority, Dr. Halliday Sutherland. I have not yet heard whether this suggestion has been acted upon. If it has, and the trial proves successful,
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then those who advocate the issue of contraceptives to members of the forces will no longer have a case, and, the remaining objection having thus been removed, the way will be clear to outlaw the production of these race -suicide devices. "I drew attention to the abortion evil when the National Fitness Bill was introduced by the then Minister for Social Services (Sir Frederick 'tewart), Ats)rtion has increased grei-t in this country in recent years, due to a relaxed moral conscience on the part of many people, and because practitioners of this crime have found that it is very difficult for the Crown to secure convictions under State Laws. Some members of juries (generally in sufficient numbers to cause disagreement) are now prone to regard abortion as a social necessity, almost; many people have ceased to regard it as murder, which it undoubtedly is, "The rapid rise in the rate of natural increase of the population in Germany immediately before the war was due, not only to the introduction of a system of marriage loans and child en dowment, but also to the strengthening of the law dealing with criminal aboition, Italy had similar legislation; and France, conscious of her falling birth-rate, adopted the same measures just before the outbreak o' the war, In Russia, abortion was legalised in the first year of the Revolution but because of the disastrous effects of its increasing prevalence that country was forced to reverse its policy and dissuade its people from interfering with natural processes. "Unfortunately, in no part of the
British Commonwealth of Nations is there a system of marriage loans in existence, and no part of the world feels the need of population to -day as much as does every portion cf that same Commonwealth.
MARRIAGE LOANS.
"In Australia the wisdom of introducing a system of marriage loans,
which would secure owne.'Thip of some property on marriage, should hold a strong appeal for all Het thinking people who have the best interests of Aus. tralia at heart. Too often heavy tribute to hire purchase companies and mortgagees eats up a great portion of the income of young couples, and is a source of temptation to them to limit the size of their families. With the majority of our young men under arms, it is imperative that the flower of the nation's manhood should be able to
marry and produce the next generation. Men of the fighting forces do not, by reason of enlistment, lose their ordinary natural right to marry, and it is a mistaken policy to suggest that they should postpone marriage until after the war. A greater mistake, still, is to suggest that there should be no children until after the war On the contrary, it is highly desirable, both from the individual and social standpoint, that members of the fighting forces should be encouraged and assisted to marry. Wife, family and home are among the strongest ties which hold a man to the realities of life. There can be little doubt that often thought of his wife and children at home is the deciding factor in resisting temptation to vice and in strengthening morale. "I understand that, in order to encourage the birth rate under schemes of marriage loans in operation in other countries, portions of the advances are progressively remitted as the number of children in the family increases. No doubt particulars of these schemes are on record in your Department and I suggest that you arrange for a small inter-Department committee of experts to examine them. with the object of formulating a marriage loan proposal (Continued on Page 13,)
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