WIST Quotations

Elders, Joycelyn -- Interview by Claudia Dreifus, New York Times (1994-01-30)

Dave — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 19:52:20 +0000

If you can’t control your reproduction, you can’t control your life.

Joycelyn Elders (b. 1933) American pediatrician, public health administrator, academic
Interview by Claudia Dreifus, New York Times (1994-01-30)
(Source)

A frequent phrase of hers.

Elders, Joycelyn -- Keynote Speech, Sistersong Conference (3 Jun 2007)

Dave — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 21:30:39 +0000

Condoms will break, but I can assure you that vows of abstinence will break more easily than condoms.

Joycelyn Elders (b. 1933) American pediatrician, public health administrator, academic
Keynote Speech, Sistersong Conference (3 Jun 2007)
(Source)

Lippmann, Walter -- A Preface To Morals, ch. 19 (1929)

Dave — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 04:45:01 +0000

Whether or not birth control is eugenic, hygienic, and economic, it is the most revolutionary practice in the history of sexual morals.

Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
A Preface To Morals, ch. 19 (1929)
(Source)

Mencken, H. L. -- Minority Report, ch. 62 (1956)

Dave — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 20:43:41 +0000

It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics and chemistry.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
Minority Report, ch. 62 (1956)
(Source)

Regarding the Pope allowing the "rhythm" method of contraception.

Inge, William Ralph -- “The Birth-Rate” (1917), Outspoken Essays: First Series (1919)

Dave — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 18:25:00 +0000

It is worse than useless to try to put down by law a practice which a very large number of people believes to be innocent, and which must be left to the taste and conscience of the individual.

William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“The Birth-Rate” (1917), Outspoken Essays: First Series (1919)
(Source)

Speaking of birth control.

Sanger, Margaret -- “The Case for Birth Control” Physical Culture (Apr 1917)

Dave — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 12:18:17 +0000

No woman can call herself free who cannot choose the time to be a mother or not as she sees fit.

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) American birth control activist, sex educator, nurse
“The Case for Birth Control” Physical Culture (Apr 1917)