Moral Dilemmas and Women's Rights

The attitude of the Mothers' Union and Catholic Women's League to divorce, birth control and abortion in England, 1928-1939

Bibliographic Data

ID3192139
AuthorsCharles Beaumont (0000-0003-1017-8059, Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author), Caitríona Beaumont
Year2007
Volume16
Issue4
Pages463-485
Publication date2007-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWomen s History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0961-2025 • E-ISSN: 1747-583X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09612020701445677
OpenAlexW2085177672
LanguageEN
Citations received6

In order to ensure that women benefited from their newly won rights as citizens in 1918 and 1928, the Mothers’ Union and Catholic Women’s League campaigned, along with feminist and political women’s organisations, to enhance the role and status of women in society. Difficulties emerged, however, when changes in public attitudes led to the liberalisation of the law in relation to divorce and birth control coupled with the growing demand within the women’s movement for safe and legal abortion. This article examines the arguments put forward by the two groups on how these reforms would undermine the role of women as housewives, mothers and citizens. It is argued that despite the fact that both groups appeared to be out of step with the wider women’s movement, they succeeded in highlighting a number of major social and welfare concerns facing many women at this time. As a result, they too made a significant contribution to the campaign for women’s rights during the interwar years

Abortion · Birth control · Family planning · League · Liberalization · Political science · Politics · Population · Pregnancy · Reproductive rights · Sociology · Welfare · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law

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