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(2)
They are:-
(1) Do unsuccessful attempts at abortion have a material
effoct upon the chances-of survival of the infant? and
(2) Has the lack of ante-natal care in the case of unmarried
mothers a material effect upon the chances of survival
of the infant?
It is recognised that in order to obtain any reliable information
on such matters, very careful and tactful approach on the part of
those conducting any enquiry will be required.
It may be daid, however, that these statistics indicate that
illegitimate children suffer, not only from economic and social
handicaps, but from a materially lower basic health standard than do
legitimate infants.
The enquiry can be extended to include an examination of the
incidence of Illegitimacy among those children who later in life are
found to have been mentally defective or feeble-minded, and would
seem to indicate that in the wider plan for the education of the
public in Citizenship and Positive Health, consideration should be
given to the problem of the unmarried mother not alone from the point
of view of the care of the mother but additionally from the point of
view of the care of the child.
Detailed examination of the Registrar Generals figures shows that
the greater proportion, probably 60%, of illegitimate infants are
born away from home, e.g. in Institutions, etc., so that it would
seem that this is an added reason for supposing that the lack of antenatal
care is responsible for this high mortality rate.
The trends indicated by the statistics herein examined have been
compared with the relevant national statistics and sufficient evidence
has been thus obtained to indicate that these local Implications have
national significance.