60 AMAND ROUTH, M.D., F.R.C.P., ON MOTHERHOOD. 



before it can be legalized. It is, I think, a point to aim at, on 

 the condition that no efforts are made to force the parents to 

 marry if they are fundamentally unsuited, associated, in fact, 

 only in an abnormal sexual relationship. 



One of the great difficulties in which an illegitimate girl is 

 involved is when she reaches a mature age, and has the 

 opportunity of what is likely to prove a happy marriage. 



If she knows that she is illegitimate and admits it, the marriage 

 may be prevented, for she would have no reputable parents or 

 relations to introduce to her husband's family. 



The knowledge of such an origin often prevents a girl accepting 

 an offer of marriage, and may lead to life-long depression ; and 

 if the knowledge is only acquired at adolescence, or later, may 

 lead to despair, and even to suicide, or to a life of irregularity 

 similar to that of her parents. 



Much could be done to lessen the penalization of both mother 

 and child by reducing the terrible mortality and morbidity 

 of both mother and child by better nursing and by more efficient 

 obstetric help. The death-rate of unmarried mothers and their 

 offspring, during pregnancy and the lying-in period, is about 

 twice as much as the death of married mothers and their children. 

 Thus 72 per 1000 illegitimate children in 1917 died during the 

 first month of life in England and Wales, as compared with 

 37 per 1000 legitimate children. The prevalence of venereal 

 disease in unmarried mothers and their children is much greater 

 than in wedlock. 



The majority of unmarried mothers are domestic servants, 

 and girls employed in hotels and restaurants. These are better 

 able to find employment again. Many such mothers are feeble- 

 minded, and may fall again and again, owing to deficient self- 

 control, which in these cases is often associated with exaggerated 

 or perverted sexual tendencies. 



Much is being done by the Ministry of Health and by the 

 public to provide hostels where the mother and her illegitimate 

 child can be domiciled together during and after lactation. 

 The mother is encouraged to do daily work outside the hostel, 

 so as to keep in touch with her child, and eventually perhaps 

 gets a caretaker's place or finds a home with a lady in the country 

 who needs one servant and does not object to the baby coming 

 too, or she may marry, and emigrate with her husband and child. 



Efforts to restore the self-respect and regeneration of the 

 mothers are often successful, but I agree with Mrs. Ransome 



