Birth Control

In Cleveland, Judge Harrison W. Ewing, a rather lean, idealistic-looking married man, looked upon two applicants for divorce and refused their request. Then he said: "I shall not allow you to impose more children upon yourselves or upon society. ... I impose upon you three years of birth control." And then he added that he would help them get a divorce after three years, if they then desire it and provided they have no more children.

Applicants were Otto Kourim, 28, and his wife, Helen, 22, than whom no two persons could benefit more greatly from a discussion of birth control--always accepting the fact that birth control is, in the Eye of State and the Eye of Church, a deadly sin.* Mr. & Mrs. Kourim have been married five years. In three of those years, they had three children. Mr. Kourim's salary has been $24 a week. They had many things to quarrel over. Six months ago, they began to live separately. Both sought divorce on charges of cruelty and neglect.

Suppose Mr. & Mrs. Kourim follow Judge Ewing's advice; then they will be breaking the birth control law of Ohio, which states that no person shall sell, exhibit, give information about or use any contraceptive. A Federal law and the various laws of other states are almost as stringent. In New York State, however, there are two birth control clinics which may give advice when essential to a wife's health or to save life.

But in every state hundreds of physicians, many of them reputable, do give birth control information; and almost every drug store in the land does sell contraceptives.

Judge Ewing vigorously defended his action: "The children are the most important principals in the [Kourim] case. When this couple ran away at their age it was a gay adventure. . . . When the first child was one year old some court should have given them a lesson in birth control. . . . Their trouble is a direct reflection on the law of this state. The courts are forbidden to give out birth control information, the very thing that would have saved this couple from this situation."

Naturally enough, Judge Ewing's unconventional behavior on the bench not only created one of the biggest stories of the week but aroused fierce debate. Absurd though it may be to contemplate enforcement of birth control, most observers credited the Cleveland judge with having raised, sharply, an issue of paramount importance.

* "By such sin fell empires, states and nations. Religion shudders at the wild orgy of atheism and immorality the situation forebodes. . .

''Defectives, moreover, whether physical or mental, have immortal souls, redeemed by the blood of Christ and destined to share with the sound and the whole the vision of God for all eternity. ..."

--Patrick Cardinal Hayes in a pastoral letter to his flock, May, 1925.