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ABORTION. By F. W. Stella Browne, A. M. Ludovici and Dr. Harry Roberts. Alien and Unwm.
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Some topics attract people of a speculative, propagandist or literary turn of mind and lead to the
production of books which reveal more of the authors than of the subject under discussion. The
number of these topics is diminishing; politics, for instance, is being absorbed by the economists
and sociologists so that when we read a political discourse which dilates, on the Rights of Man we
immediately consider it out of date and rather dull. Abortion is rapidly becoming either a
propagandist and speculative subject or else a field of application for specialised study.
This book is clearly the product of the former class; none of the writers have scratched beneath the
surface thoughts on the subject, they are content to produce generalised leading articles for and
against Abortion; since leading articles are read but not studied their work will merit the popularity
it will no doubt receive.
Miss Stella Browne and Dr. Harry Roberts treat the subject seriously but draw opposite
conclusions. The former pleads for the woman's absolute right to abortion in the interests of her
own freedom; for the sake of the next generation and for that of family life, children should be
wanted and should not be encumbrances. Dr. Roberts makes his plea in the same terms, but bases
his argument on the view that abortion is a disturbance of the vita sexualis of the woman and on
biological and physiological grounds is therefore an evil.
Abortion is a clinical problem shared by the gynaecologist and the medical psychologist. The
former can tell us of the physical risks and handicaps, the latter about the mental troubles and
conflicts of those who desire and of those who fear abortion. If is a pity that the mental problems
have been dealt with in this book on traditional lines of propaganda and not on those of clinical
research. To mention but one point, the great differences that exist in respect to “guilt-proneness”
are not referred to, whereas clinically this is a very important point. Some women cannot tolerate
the idea of abortion because they associate it with the notion of violent assault on a baby (born or
unborn does not affect the issue), others are frightened at having a baby inside them (apart from the
anticipated pains of labour or of social problems, in particular illegitimacy or other social
difficulties) and are glad to be rid of it, still others can subordinate the foetus to their social and
sexual life without disturbances from guilt or anxiety. Until books on Abortion deal with these and
other practical clinical and everyday matters they cannot be regarded as contributions to social
science.
The important thing is to know what does happen in a person's mind when there is a foetus
developing, not what the person's social, ethical or theoretical attitude ought to be. Unfortunately,
books such as this waste an opportunity.
JOHN RICKMAN.