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Circular 1208. Ministry of Health, Whitehall, London, S.W.I.
Sir, BIRTH CONTROL. 14th july, 1981
I am directed by the Minister of Health to refer to Memorandum
153/M.C.W., which was issued in March last on the above
subject. The Minister finds that certain misconceptions have
arisen in regard to the views expressed in that Memorandum, and
he desires to bring the following points to the notice of Local
Authorities.
1. It is necessary to emphasize the statement in the Memorandum
that the Government are advised that Local Authorities
have no general power to establish birth control clinics as such.
The Memorandum was issued solely for the purpose of explaining
the views of the Government on the use of institutions controlled
by Local Authorities for the purpose of giving advice to women
on contraceptive methods, and it should be understood that the
question of providing facilities for giving such advice within the
limits laid down in the Memorandum is a matter entirely within
the discretion of the Local Authority.
2. Under the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, 1918, the
powers of Local Authorities are limited, so far as women are concerned,
to making arrangements for attending to the health of
expectant mothers and nursing mothers. If an Authority decides
to provide facilities for giving birth control advice at a Maternity
and Child Welfare Centre in accordance with paragraph 2 of the
Memorandum, the use of these facilities must be strictly incidental
to the purpose for which the Centre is established, and they can
be made available only for married women who are either expectant
or nursing mothers already in attendance at the Centre and
in whose cases further pregnancy would be detrimental to health.
3. If action is taken under the Public Health Acts to establish
a clinic at which medical advice and treatment would be available
for women suffering from gynaecological conditions, the use
of any facilities provided at the clinic for giving advice on contraceptive
methods must be strictly incidental to the purpose for
which the clinic is established, viz., the treatment of sick persons.
Only women who need medical advice and treatment for gynaecological
conditions can properly be admitted to the clinic, and contraceptive
advice can properly be given only to married women in
attendance at the clinic in whose cases pregnancy would be detrimental
to health. It is obviously desirable for a Local Authority
to obtain the services of a medical officer specially experienced in
the clinical advice and treatment needed at a gynaecological centre
of this sort.
4. The Minister does not consider it desirable that a gynaecological
clinic should be established at a Maternity and Child Welfare
Centre, and if an Authority is satisfied that there is need for
such a clinic it should be provided in separate premises or at a
hospital. Expectant mothers and nursing mothers in attendance
at Maternity and Child Welfare Centres who are found to need
medical advice and treatment for gynaecological conditions could
then be referred to the clinic.
5. The Minister considers it important that no existing
officer of a Local Authority should be prejudiced in any way by a
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