| | Puerperal |-------------------
Country. | Septic | Sepsis |Including|Excluding
|Abortion.| following | Septic | Septic
| |Child-birth.|Abortion.|Abortion.
------------------------+---------+------------+---------+---------
Norway | 0.47 | 0.57 | 2.75 | 2.28
Netherlands | 0.30 | 0.73 | 3.20 | 2.90
New Zealand | 1.73 | 0.70 | 4.85 | 3.12
Switzerland | 0.73 | 0.82 | 4.58 | 3.85
England and Wales | 0.49 | 1.53 | 4.60 | 4.11
Australia | 1.45 | 0.90 | 5.76 | 4.31
Irish Free State | 0.07 | 1.73 | 4.68 | 4.61
Canada | 0.58 | 1.23 | 5.26 | 4.68
United States of America| 1.02 | 1.30 | 5.93 | 4.91
Union of South Africa | 0.67 | 2.03 | 5.99 | 5.32
Scotland | 0.38 | 2.30 | 6.20 | 5.82
Northern Ireland | 0.32 | 1.85 | 6.27 | 5.95
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PART II.--THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF ABORTION IN NEW ZEALAND.

As seen by the Committee, the reasons which lead to a resort to
abortion may be set out under the following broad headings:--

(1) Economic and domestic hardship.

(2) Fear of labour and its sequelae.

(3) Pregnancy in the unmarried.

(4) Changes in social outlook.

(5) Ignorance of effective methods of contraception and of the
dangers of abortion.

(6) Influence of advertising.

(1) ECONOMIC AND DOMESTIC HARDSHIP.

(_a_) _Poverty._--Cases arise where the parents are on the bread-line
and have no means of supporting a child, but the Committee is of
opinion that such extreme poverty is rare in New Zealand.

More common are the cases in which income is sufficient for a small
family but a larger one would constitute hardship, or, alternatively,
in which income is sufficient to support several small children but not
to provide education, &c., in later life. The view, formerly widely
accepted, that membership of a large family is in itself a valuable
contribution to education and to the training of responsible citizens,
appears to be at a discount, and many parents now consider that
advantages which can be _given_ to a child as a result o