ABSTRACT
With the advantage of hindsight, Richard Titmuss described the widespread acceptance of birth control as the most important factor contributing to both the improvement in women's health and female emancipation. 1 During the period 1911-39, national health insurance statistics, social surveys and reports of physicians all showed the extent of morbidity due to, and exacerbated by, childbirth. The personal records of the women who wrote to the Women's Cooperative Guild at the beginning of World War I also revealed the misery attending frequent pregnancy and childbirth. Taken together, this evidence supports Titmuss's conclusion. Fertility control was as important as economic assistance in improving maternal welfare.
