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By Their Fruits: Eugenics, Population Control, and the Abortion Campaign Ann Farmer. Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8132-1530-3; 421 PAGES, CLOTH, $79.95
By 1937, fewer children were born to Britain's wealthy classes than to the poorer classes. The differential birth rated caused such concern that a Royal Committee of Enquiry was convened to investigate the contribution of illegal abortion to the diminishing birth rate. Giving evidence before what became known as the Birkett Enquiry were Social Darwinists who held that the larger family size of the poor was a testimony to their lack of intelligence, Neo-Malthusians who wanted to help the poor evolve further by educating them to use birth control, and Eugenicists who recommended marriage only among 'the fit.' Ann Farmer's aim in By Their Fruits is to contribute to 'more authentic historical research in this area.' (66) Her detailed volume is replete with acronyms of the...