Birth Control On Trial
The right to knowledge about birth control was in the dock when reformers fell foul of the law.
This year Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh were charged under the Obscene Publications Act for publishing practical information on how to the limit the number of children born to a woman.
Besant was married to a clergyman, but had separated from him over her radical religious and political views. She became close friends with Charles Bradlaugh who led the National Secular Society, which argued for the separation of Church and State. Their newspaper the National Reformer urged an end to restrictions based on religious beliefs. Both were spellbinding speakers who could fill halls with their message of ‘free thought’.
In March 1877 they challenged the authorities by publishing The Fruits of Philosophy, or the Private Companion of Young Married People. This pamphlet by a US doctor summarised what was known about the physiology of conception, and explained a birthcontrol method of douching the vagina with a chemical solution after sex.
Besant conducted her own defence at the trial, arguing that contraception would relieve poverty; it was better to prevent birth than to bring children into the world to starve; and contraception was better than abortion.
The jury exonerated Besant and Bradlaugh, saying the publication was not intended to corrupt; but they also said that it was depraved. The judge interpreted this as a guilty verdict, but on appeal the case was dismissed for a technical irregularity. This was anything but a clear decision. Besant subsequently published her own bestselling pamphlet, The Law of Population.
Unfortunately, there were dire personal consequences. Besant was still married, and had charge of her daughter, Mabel. However, after the trial her husband petitioned that her views made her unfit to bring up a young girl, and he was awarded permanent custody of Mabel.
Nevertheless, both of the defendants were able to use their fame from this campaign to move on to greater things in the next decade. Charles Bradlaugh became MP for Northampton, after fighting for the right to take his seat as an atheist. Annie Besant was one of the leaders of the 1888 match girls’ strike at the Bryant & May Factory in Bow, East London, in which unskilled workers showed that they could develop union power.
‘It was better to prevent birth than to bring children into the world to starve’