I am thinking of course of healthy parents. Unhealthy parents probably
ought not to have children at all.
The second point I am clear about is that for most couples to have as
many children as is possible is equally indefensible. Most healthy
couples could have far more children than they can do justice to. In
fact the plan of unrestricted families results in a threefold wrong. It
is nothing less than cruel to women. The overburdened mothers who were
confined once a year or once in eighteen months, never allowed to
regain full strength between confinements, and made prematurely old,
are, I hope, a thing of the past. Marriage on those terms did mean
servitude. Further, the plan is cruel to children. They cannot
on these terms receive sufficient attention. They are not given a fair
start in life, and in many cases do not even receive sufficient healthy
nourishment. These things are of course in part due to the artificial
conditions of modern life. But the conditions are there and cannot be
ignored. And thirdly, the plan involves a wrong to society.
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