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23
The ward allocation is made from the notifications which are
received under the Notification of Births Act. The number of
notifications does not exactly correspond always with the number
of registrations. The births have to be notified within 36 hours,
whilst a delay of 6 weeks may occur in the registration of a birth.
There is not much difference in the number notified and registered
in the district in the year as the births which occur towards the end
of the year and are not registered until the following year are equalised
by the births which have occurred towards the end of another year
and have not been registered in the same year under similar conditions.
The difference between the number of notified births
and registered births arises from differences in the practice of various
sanitary authorities. Some authorities send intimations to the
district concerned of all the outside births which have occurred in
their area. Other authorities do not supply this information. It
will be inferred though from the table that this information is now
fairly complete. There is only a difference of 18 in the number
of notifications received and the total number of live births belonging
to the district as supplied by the Registrar General.
There is a considerable drop, not only in the birth-rate, but
also in the total number of births, and the cause is not far to seek.
Whatever our views may be on the subject of birth-control, we must
face the fact that contraception is being practised more and more
among almost every class of the population. There is no birthcontrol
clinic inside the borough, but there are at least three in
neighbouring boroughs and it is known that a large number of
our married women make extensive use of these. In another paragraph,
I refer to the deaths from sepsis following abortion, and it
must be admitted that where contraceptive methods are not used,
other practices are followed which are more harmful still to the
mother. It is a subject which no one wished to discuss, but it
would be idle to ignore certain facts, such as the activity of
abortionists among mothers, the extensive use of aborticfacient drugs
and mechanical attempts at abortion.
It may be argued that the question is more of a social than
a medical one, that the condition is not one which concerns a sanitary
authority, but it is impossible to separate the medical from the
social aspect of the subject. One has to consider not only whether
birth-control does harm in itself, but whether it is more harmful
than the attempts which are made to bring about the premature
expulsion of the foetus. Although there may be no organic disease
in the mother, we are forced to consider the harm which may result
from frequent pregnancies, insufficient rest, insufficient nourishment,
&c. These are problems which are being forced continually
to the notice of all public health workers.