PLANNING YOUR FAMILY

Without a copy of Babies by Choice or By Chance (1959) at hand, it is a little hard to tell how much new material there is in this book which covers the same sociomedical problems, birth control, infertility, sterilization, abortion. In any case, this is an excellent explicit presentation of these associated areas along with the religious attitudes toward birth control (all faiths approve of some method) and sterilization; of the various types of birth control and the varying safety of the method (with a surprising statistic- as of 1960- 70% of Roman Catholic wives reported the use of birth control- probably evenly divided between the church-approved or other methods); of abortion- ""an ugly choice but approximately 1 million American women"" make it per annum; of infertility, its causes and treatment, and artificial insemination. The chapter on ""the pill"", now the most effective contraceptive known, probably provides the newest information in this balanced, experienced exposition.