“... the ordinary
decent instincts of the poor are against these practices, and indeed they have
used them less than any other class. But, owing to their poverty, lack of
learning, and helplessness, the poor are the natural victims or those who wish
to make experiments on their fellows. In the midst of London, a woman, who is a
doctor of German philosophy (Munich) has opened a Birth Control Clinic where
working women are instructed in a method of contraception described by
Professor McIlroy as ‘the most harmful method of which I have had experience.’”
“It is truly amazing
that this monstrous campaign of birth control should be tolerated by the Home
Secretary. Charles Bradlaugh was condemned to jail for a less serious crime.”
For these words a renowned medical pioneer was prosecuted for
libel by Marie Stopes in 1923.
 |
| Dr Halliday G. Sutherland (1888-1960) |
Dr Halliday G. Sutherland stood up courageously against the
birth control and eugenics movement in the early twentieth century and his life
therefore deserves the attention of those of us who continue that battle today.
He was born in Glasgow in 1882 and studied
medicine at the University
of Edinburgh, graduating
in 1908. He began his career as a bacteriologist at Liverpool
Chest Hospital
before spending time practising medicine in Spain at a British medical clinic.
On his return to Scotland he
worked at various hospitals before becoming Medical Officer at St. Marylebone
Tuberculosis Dispensary in London
in 1911. When war broke out he joined the Royal Navy, and then the fledging
Royal Air Force. After the war he returned to the practice of medicine becoming
an expert in tuberculosis and holding many senior positions in that field. He
was also a popular travel writer and adventurer writing books such as Lapland Journey, Spanish Journey, and A Time
to Keep. His autobiography The Arches
of the Years was published in eight
European languages and reprinted thirty-five times.
Shortly after the First World War Sutherland was received
into the Catholic Church. He dedicated a great deal of time and energy to
exposing the incipient birth control movement publishing
Birth Control: A Statement of Christian Doctrine against the
Neo-Malthusians in
1922. He began
this work by examining and refuting the doctrines of Malthus and the
Neo-Malthusians concerning overpopulation. He argued that there was no evidence
that the world was facing a crisis of overpopulation and then deconstructed the
Malthusian narrative step by step. He argued that the real cause of poverty was
economic injustice and not overpopulation. He then moved on to discuss the
health risks of contraceptive methods, the degradation of women which was
inseperable from their use, the damage that they caused to marriages and
finally the way in which in birth control was used to control the poor. He
ended the book by discussing the immorality of contraception in the light of
the teaching of the Catholic Church.
The first trial of Halliday Sutherland took place in
February 1923. Marie Stopes argued that the extracts quoted above were
libellous because they alleged that she was taking advantage of the weakness of
the poor, that she was subjecting them to dangerous experiments, and that she
was guilty of criminal practices. She said that her reputation and that of her
clinic had been unjustly damaged. Sutherland defended himself by arguing that
his words were true and fair comment made in the public interest. The jury
decided that the claims made by Sutherland about Stopes were accurate but that
they had been made in a defamatory manner and awarded damages of £100 to
Stopes. The judge rejected their verdict and Sutherland was aquitted. Stopes
successfully appealed against this decision and £100 of damages were once more
awarded to her. Sutherland then appealed to the House of Lords where the Law
Lords reached a verdict 4-1 in his favour.
Lord Vincent concluded that
Sutherland’s accusations were fair comment and a reasonable expression of the
commonly held opinion that ‘such practices are revolting to the healthy
instincts of human nature’. Indeed, Lord Vincent expressed his own opinion that
works promoting methods of birth control ‘are calculated to have a most
deplorable effect upon the young of both sexes’ and pointed out that Stopes’
works were ‘of such a nature that they were not read aloud’ in the court. The accuracy of Lord Vincent's prediction has become all too clear in our own day (see
here and
here for evidence of this).
The Stopes vs Sutherland trial ended with criticism of Marie Stopes being heard in the highest court in the land and with at least one of her allegations against Sutherland being dismissed as ‘absurd.’ The enormous costs that
she was made to pay were a setback to her work. Unfortunately the courts would
not long remain places where human dignity was upheld yet Sutherland can remain for
us a model of courage and tenacity in defence of human life.
Dr Halliday G. Sutherland died in April 1960. He had been
made Knight Commander of the Order of Isabella by the Spanish government in
1954 for his services to the Spanish people. In 1955 he was presented with the
Pope John XXI medal, which is awarded to Catholic doctors who have made an
outstanding contribution to the field of medical ethics.
