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FAMILY LIMITATION
BY
MARGARET H. SANGER
REVISED
SIXTH EDITION
1917
INTRODUCTION.
There is no need for any one to explain to the working men and womenin America what this pamphlet is written for or why it is necessarythat they should have this information. They know better than I couldtell them, so I shall not try.
I have tried to give the knowledge of the best French and Dutchphysicians translated into the simplest English, that all may easilyunderstand.
There are various and numerous mechanical means of prevention which Ihave not mentioned here, mainly because I have not come into personalcontact with those who have used them or could recommend them asentirely satisfactory.
I feel there is sufficient information given here, which, if followed,will prevent a woman from becoming pregnant unless she desires to doso.
If a woman is too indolent to wash and cleanse herself, and the mantoo selfish to consider the consequences of the act, then it will bedifficult to find a preventive to keep the woman from becomingpregnant.
Of course, it is troublesome to get up to douche, it is also anuisance to have to trouble about the date of the menstrual period. Itseems inartistic and sordid to insert a pessary or a suppository inanticipation of the sexual act. But it is far more sordid to findyourself several years later burdened down with half a dozen unwantedchildren, helpless, starved, shoddily clothed, dragging at your skirt,yourself a dragged out shadow of the woman you once were.
Don't be over sentimental in this important phase of hygiene. Theinevitable fact is that unless you prevent the male sperm fromentering the womb, you are going to become pregnant. Women of theworking class, especially wage workers, should not have more than twochildren at most. The average working man can support no more and theaverage working woman can take care of no more in decent fashion. Ithas been my experience that more children are not really wanted, butthat the women are compelled to have them either from lack offoresight or through ignorance of the hygiene of preventingconception.
It is only the workers who are ignorant of the knowledge of how toprevent bringing children in the world to fill jails and hospitals,factories and mills, insane asylums and premature graves.
The working women can use direct action by refusing to supply themarket with children to be exploited, by refusing to populate theearth with slaves.
It is also the one most direct method for you working women to helpyourself today.
Pass on this information to your neighbor and comrade workers. Writeout any of the following information which you are sure will help her,and pass it along where it is needed. Spread this important knowledge!
The Small Family System: Is it Injurious or Immoral? by Dr. C. V.Drysdale. B. W. Huebsch, New York City.
The Problem of Race-Regeneration, by Havelock Ellis, Moffat, Yard &Co., New York City.
The Task of Social Hygiene, by Havelock Ellis. Houghton Mifflin & Co.,Boston, Mass.
The Limitation of Offspring by the Prevention of Conception, by Dr.Wm. J. Robinson, Critic & Guide Co., New York City.
"What Every Girl Should Know" by M