The Beginning of Life 53 



pregnancy that extra care must be observed. 

 Every woman is entitled to adequate super- 

 vision up to the time of the birth of her child 

 as well as during and after its birth. The life 

 that comes before birth must have about as 

 much attention as the life that follows birth. 

 Not only for the sake of the child, but a need- 

 lessly large mortality on the part of the mother 

 may thus be avoided. 



The importance of this subject is now being 

 recognized and prenatal clinics are being con- 

 ducted by departments of health to look after 

 those who cannot afford private advice. Ma- 

 ternal welfare centres, under private manage- 

 ment, are also being conducted with excellent 

 results. Every woman who can afford a regu- 

 lar attending physician should be under his con- 

 stant care during all of this period, instead of 

 waiting until the time of labor is approaching. 

 The importance of proper regulation at this 

 time will be appreciated when we consider an 

 estimate that 20,000 maternal deaths due to 

 child birth and 200,000 deaths of infants 

 occurred during 1920 in the United States. 



