Rabbi Israel Goldstein, of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, will cooperate in furthering a program to free the country of prejudice against open discussion about birth control and will concentrate his efforts on an attempt to disseminate information about the subject.
In an interview with a representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Dr. Goldstein, who is the chairman of the Social Justice Committee of the Rabbinical Association of America, voiced his sentiments regarding birth control, a subject of interest to him because of “humanitarian reasons.” He holds firmly to the conviction that the so-called Comstockian laws, which in effect prohibit sending information dealing with birth control through the mails, should be repealed. He admitted the possibility that opposition will be fierce against repeal, and the argument that it will lead to moral decline will be hurled.
“But,” Dr. Goldstein added, “it will lead to no such thing. People who might be accused of moral weakness will of course not be affected by the repeal of the Comstockian laws. Those who seek acquaintance with contraceptive methods for unjustifiable purposes can and do secure that information regardless of laws passed against it. Meanwhile,” he stressed, “there are thousands of poor women, virtually in starvation, who are without means or knowledge of how to end their misery.”
TYPICAL CASE CITED
Dr. Goldstein cited a typical case which was encountered by the City Home Relief Bureau. A woman who was an expectant mother had appealed for financial assistance. Investigation disclosed that she had five children who were undernourished, inadequately clothed and living in virtual poverty. Their father was unemployed.
“Such a woman should be taught birth control,” insisted Dr. Goldstein. “It is a pity and a disgrace that such cases are permitted to exist”
Asked for concrete measures which he will cooperate in sponsoring in connection with a birth control publicity drive, Dr. Goldstein said that the first step is to overcome national prejudice against birth control.
CHURCHES, PRESS MUST AID
“This must be accomplished with the aid of churches and newspapers,” he said. “It is not up to these sufferers themselves to come and ask for data about birth control. It is up to the clergy and the press to step in and make the subject one within the grasp of everyone. It is up to them to break down the barriers which make us afraid to talk openly about sex.”
The Russian practice of distributing to every newly-wedded couple contraceptive information should be adopted in America, according to Dr. Goldstein. He would have social service workers and other persons engaged in public welfare work, including the civil service personnel of the Home Relief Bureau, “make it their business to gather names of suffering married women who need aid. The American attitude on the question was called by Dr. Goldstein “hypocritical”, because, he said, “it closes its eyes to the need for birth control information as a legitimate aid in the building of a healthy and happy society.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
