Eugenics and birth control: contraceptive provision in North Wales, 1918-1939.

Abstract

The close relationship between the provision of birth control advice and the ideology of eugenics deserves closer attention. This paper focuses on the enthusiasm for eugenic ideas amongst an influential section of the medical profession and their ability to initiate contraceptive provision. A study of North Wales suggests that clinic provision in the interwar period reflected the enthusiasm or hostility of the medical profession more closely than the needs or demands of the female population, and illustrates how, for some doctors, the issue of contraception was seen in the wider context of the nation's health.