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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - III. Population and Migration - 7. Population - 6. The Case for Controlling the Negro Birth Rate
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Chapter 7. Population 177
Without going into the general reasons for spreading birth control in
any population,®^ a few remarks on the special reasons for Negroes are in
point. One of the most obvious misfortunes which a reduced birth rate
could relieve is the poverty of the Negro masses. This is especially true as
new legislation, urbanization, and technological advance operate to diminish
child labor. It is particularly strong as long as the state shares only slightly
in paying for the investment in a new generation and leaves the rising
costs of bearing and rearing children almost entirely to the individual
families. Since Negro women are employed to a greater extent than white
women, the periods of pregnancy, delivery, and dependency are a relatively
greater economic burden to Negro families. If pregnancies occur too fre-
quently, the mother’s health is endangered. To poor Negro mothers in
communities which do not provide proper natal and pre-natal care for
Negroes, any pregnancy is a health risk.
Besides poverty, there are other conditions among Negroes which moti-
vate birth control. One is the high disease rate. In so far as diseases of parents
arc transmitted to their children, killing or permanently maiming them,
such parents ought to be encouraged not to have children. The special refer-
ence here, of course, is to the venereal diseases which afflict Negroes to a
much greater extent than whites.®^ Poindexter®^ estimates that of the con-
ceptions of untreated syphilitic women, about 30 per cent die in uteroy 40
per cent die within the first two years of life, and the remaining 30 per cent,
while they live past the age of two, usually have some permanent defect.
There can be no excuse for having children under such circumstances, and
the provision of contraceptive information and devices would be to every-
one’s advantage. There are in the United States over 2,500 clinics®^ the
function of which is to cure cases of venereal disease. Since a good proportion
of the cost of these clinics is borne by the federal government,®® they are
roughly distributed in accordance with need. Thus the South, with only 31
per cent of the total population but 79 per cent of the Negro population,
had 61 per cent of these clinics in 1940.®® In connection with the work of
these clinics there is much publicity on the prevention and cure of venereal
disease. It would be a simple matter, and one much in accord with the
purpose of this work, for the clinics to provide, and give information about,
contraceptives to those who have the diseases which they are combating.
The funds for these activities need to be increased, and clinics set up where
none are now available. A case could also be made for extending the scope
of the circumstances under which physicians may legally perform thera-
peutic abortions.®^
A third special problem in connection with the formation of a policy
toward Negro fertility is suggested by the extremely high illegitimacy rate
among Negroes.*^ Reported illegitimate births constituted 16.2 per cent of
* The causes of this high birth rate to unmarried mothers will be considered in Chapter
43, Section 2.
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