The Case for Birth Control: A Supplementary Brief and Statement of Facts

by Margaret Sanger

Table 41.—Aggregate Number of Births, Losses, and Rate of Loss Per 1,000 Births, According to Number of Births per Mother.
NUMBER OF BIRTHS PER MOTHER.	Aggregate number of births.	Aggregate number of losses.	Rate of loss per 1,000 births.
Total	5,617	1,058	188.4
1	335	53	158.6
2	554	87	157.0
3	648	113	174.4
4	748	109	145.7
5	740	133	179.7
6	576	119	206.6
7	574	104	181.2
8	432	102	236.1
9	324	65	200.6
10 or more	686	173	252.2

The influence of the economic factor on infant mortality among the babies born prior to 1911 can not be determined with exactness, as no inquiry was made concerning earnings of the father when the other children were born. But it is believed that his earnings during the year following the birth of the 1911 baby can be regarded as an index of the economic standing of the family for some time past. In individual cases, of course, revolutionary changes in the family’s income may have occurred, but for the great mass of people in the group considered it is not likely that within such a short space of time as that covered by the child-bearing period of the women considered—most of whom had not had numerous pregnancies—marked changes had taken place. If these known earnings are accepted as an index, the following variations are found to occur in the infant mortality rate for all the babies of whom a record was secured:

Table 42.—Infant Mortality Rate for all Children of Married Mothers Included in this Investigation, Distributed According to the Father’s Earnings.
FATHER’S ANNUAL EARNINGS.	Infant mortality rate.
Under $521	197.3
$521 to $624	193.1
$625 to $779	163.1
$780 to $899	168.4
$900 to $1,199	142.2
$1,200 and over	102.2

The infant mortality rate for the babies whose fathers earn under $521 is almost twice as great as for those born into families in the most prosperous group. These figures strengthen the conclusion reached in the study of the babies born in 1911, namely that the economic factor is of far-reaching importance in determining the baby’s chance of life.

Table V.—Distribution of Live Births and of Deaths During First Year, According to Number of Persons and Number of Rooms per Family.
PERSONS PER FAMILY (NOT INCLUDING BABY).		All live born babies.	NUMBER OF BABIES WHO WERE BORN ALIVE AND NUMBER OF SUCH BABIES WHO DIED DURING FIRST YEAR IN HOMES HAVING—
			1 room	2 rooms	3 rooms	4 rooms	5 rooms	6 rooms	7 rooms	8 rooms	9 rooms	10 rooms and over.	Unknown number of rooms.
	{Births	1,463	33	165	147	526	222	233	38	43	22	12	22
Total	{Deaths	196	3	29	24	79	20	20	6	6	4	2	3
	{Births	24	3	7	4	6	2						2
2	{Deaths	19	1	5	4	6	1						2
	{Births	275	14	46	35	96	29	37	4	6	1		7
3	{Deaths	31		5	4	12	2	3	3	2
	{Births	234	7	44	20	83	40	23	4	5	2	2	4
4	{Deaths	30	1	12	5	9	2					1
	{Births	229		27	24	88	31	43	4	5	1	1	5
5	{Deaths	22		1	6	9	1	4		1
	{Births	182	2	21	17	56	37	34	5	7	2		1
6	{Deaths	18		4		8	2	3		1
	{Births	164	2	10	20	50	32	30	9	6	3	1	1
7	{Deaths	15		1	2	6	1	3	1		1
	{Births	107	2	5	14	37	16	18	4	6	2	3
8	{Deaths	17			2	6	3	1	2	1	1	1
	{Births	79	2	2	6	27	13	13	6	2	4	4
9	{Deaths	8	1			2	2	1			2
	{Births	58	1	1	2	26	7	15	1	1	3		1
10	{Deaths	15			1	11	2	1
	{Births	36		1	1	16	3	10		3	2
11	{Deaths	4		1		1	1	1
	{Births	21		1	1	10	2	6		1
12	{Deaths	5				2	1	1		1
	{Births	20			1	13	4			1	1
13	{Deaths	4				3	1
	{Births	8			1	5	2
14	{Deaths	2				1	1
	{Births	6				3	2						1
15	{Deaths	1											1
	{Births	4				4
16	{Deaths	2				2
	{Births	3				1		1		1
17	{Deaths
	{Births	5			1	1		1	1		1
18	{Deaths	1				1
	{Births	2				2
19	{Deaths
	{Births	3				1	1	1
20	{Deaths	1						1
	{Births	1						1
22	{Deaths	1						1
	{Births	1				1
23	{Deaths
Not	{Births	1					1
reported.	{Deaths

Table VIII.—Distribution of Deaths of Infants at Specified Age, According to Cause of Death of Infant and Nativity of Mother.
CAUSE OF DEATH OF INFANT AND NATIVITY OF MOTHER.	Total deaths under 1 year of age.	AGE AT DEATH.
		Less than 1 week.				1 week but less than 1 month.				1 month but less than 1 year.
		Total.	1 day or less.	2 days.	3 to 6 days.	Total.	1 week but less than 2.	2 weeks but less than 3.	3 weeks but less than 1 month.	Total.	1 month but less than 2.	2 months but less than 3.	3 months but less than 6.	6 months but less than 9.	9 months and over.
All causes	196	45	30	4	11	29	14	7	8	122	18	16	42	31	15
Native mothers	85	25	18	3	4	9	2	1	6	51	9	7	18	12	5
Foreign mothers	111	20	12	1	7	20	12	6	2	71	9	9	24	19	10
Diarrhea and enteritis	52	1			1	5		3	2	46	5	4	17	15	5
Native mothers	17	1			1					16	3	1	5	5	2
Foreign mothers	35					5		3	2	30	2	3	12	10	3
Respiratory diseases	50					3	3			47	7	4	15	13	8
Native mothers	19									19	2	2	8	5	2
Foreign mothers	31					3	3			28	5	2	7	8	6
Premature births	24	21	19		2	3	3
Native mothers	11	11	11
Foreign mothers	13	10	8		2	3	3
Congenital debility or malformation	19	10	7	1	2	6	2	3	1	3	1	2
Native mothers	5	4	3		1	1			1
Foreign mothers	14	6	4	1	1	5	2	3		3	1	2
Injuries at birth	7	7	3	2	2
Native mothers	6	6	3	2	1
Foreign mothers	1	1			1
Other or not reported	44	6	1	1	4	12	6	1	5	26	5	6	10	3	2
Native mothers	27	3	1	1	1	8	2	1	5	16	4	4	5	2	1
Foreign mothers	17	3			3	4	4			10	1	2	5	1	1

Table X.—Distribution of Births to Married Wage-earning Mothers, According to Husband’s Annual Earnings and Nativity and Earnings of Mother.
NATIVITY AND ANNUAL EARNINGS OF MARRIED MOTHER.	Total births.	BIRTHS TO MARRIED WAGE-EARNING MOTHER WITH HUSBAND EARNING ANNUALLY—
		Under $521.	$521 to $624.	$625 to $779.	$780 to $899.	$900 to $1,199.	$1,200 and over.	Ample.[[37]]
All wage-earning mothers	281	112	57	51	25	14	1	21
Under $53	20	6	5	1	4	1	—	3
$53 to $103	57	23	12	11	7	3	—	1
$104 to $207	89	46	16	19	3	3	—	2
$208 to $311	60	23	16	12	4	3	1	1
$312 and over	46	14	8	8	7	2	—	7
Not reported	9	—	—	—	—	—	2	7
Native wage-earning mothers	26	9	3	4	6	1	—	3
Under $53	6	2	1	—	2	1	—	—
$53 to $103	5	2	1	2	—	—	—	—
$104 to $207	5	1	1	2	1	—	—	—
$208 to $311	4	3	—	—	1	—	—	—
$312 and over	3	1	—	—	2	—	—	—
Not reported	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	3
Foreign wage-earning mothers	255	103	54	47	19	13	1	18
Under $53	14	4	4	1	2	—	—	3
$53 to $103	52	21	11	9	7	3	—	1
$104 to $207	84	45	15	17	2	3	—	2
$208 to $311	56	20	16	12	3	3	1	1
$312 and over	43	13	8	8	5	2	—	7
Not reported	6	—	—	—	—	2	—	4

[37]. See note on page [45].

Table XI.—Distribution of Results of Reportable Pregnancies (Live Births and Stillbirths) and Miscarriages, According to Number per Mother and Nativity of Mother.
NUMBER OF REPORTABLE PREGNANCIES PER MOTHER AND NATIVITY OF MOTHER.	REPORTABLE PREGNANCIES AND RESULTS THEREOF.												MISCARRIAGES IN ADDITION TO REPORTABLE PREGNANCIES.
	Total pregnancies.	Total births.	Excess due to plural births.	Number of mothers.	Live births.					Stillbirths.			Number of miscarriages reported.	Number of mothers reporting miscarriages.
					Number.	Number of mothers having live births.	Deaths in first year.			Number of still-births.	Number of mothers having still-births.	Per cent. of all births.		Total mothers.	Per cent. of all mothers.
							Number.	Number of mothers having babies die.	Infant mortality rate.
All married mothers	5,554	5,617	63	1,491	5,363	1,465	804	509	149.9	254	194	4.5	191	130	8.7
1	339	343	4	339	322	318	35	34	108.7	21	21	6.1	8	8	2.4
2	566	576	10	283	544	279	59	54	108.5	32	28	5.6	23	16	5.7
3	642	650	8	214	626	214	92	75	147.0	24	23	3.7	26	18	8.4
4	744	752	8	186	723	180	78	64	107.9	29	21	3.9	22	18	9.7
5	735	740	5	147	704	147	103	67	146.3	36	31	4.9	20	14	9.5
6	564	568	4	94	546	93	88	60	161.2	22	13	3.9	23	14	14.9
7	581	586	5	83	555	83	78	48	140.5	31	22	5.3	27	15	18.1
8	432	437	5	54	426	54	95	42	223.0	11	7	2.5	15	9	16.7
9	297	299	2	33	283	33	41	20	144.9	16	11	5.4	13	8	([[38]])
10 or more	654	666	12	58	634	58	135	45	212.9	32	17	4.8	14	10	17.2
Native	2,717	2,744	27	816	2,600	801	294	206	113.1	144	115	5.2	136	92	11.3
1	234	236	2	234	224	222	17	17	75.9	12	12	5.1	7	7	3.0
2	346	351	5	173	327	170	25	23	76.5	24	21	6.8	18	13	7.5
3	333	338	5	111	322	111	38	31	118.0	16	16	4.7	21	15	13.5
4	376	377	1	94	362	94	36	31	99.4	15	13	4.0	13	10	10.6
5	325	326	1	65	302	65	26	21	86.1	24	19	7.4	13	10	15.4
6	222	222		37	216	37	34	22	157.4	6	5	2.7	17	9	([[38]])
7	266	267	1	38	250	38	25	18	100.0	17	11	6.4	25	13	([[38]])
8	184	187	3	23	184	23	29	17	157.6	3	2	1.6	8	5	([[38]])
9	117	118	1	13	109	13	14	7	128.4	9	6	7.6	4	3	([[38]])
10 or more	314	322	8	28	304	28	50	19	164.5	18	10	5.6	10	7	([[38]])
Foreign	2,837	2,873	36	675	2,763	664	510	303	184.6	110	79	3.8	55	38	5.6
1	105	107	2	105	98	96	18	17	183.7	9	9	8.4	1	1	1.0
2	220	225	5	110	217	109	34	31	156.7	8	7	3.6	5	3	2.7
3	309	312	3	103	304	103	54	44	177.6	8	7	2.6	5	3	2.9
4	368	375	7	92	361	92	42	33	116.3	14	8	3.7	9	8	8.7
5	410	414	4	82	402	82	77	46	191.5	12	12	2.9	7	4	4.9
6	342	346	4	57	330	56	54	38	163.6	16	8	4.6	6	5	8.3
7	315	319	4	45	305	45	53	30	173.8	14	11	4.4	2	2	([[38]])
8	248	250	2	31	242	31	66	25	272.7	8	5	3.2	7	4	([[38]])
9	180	181	1	20	174	20	27	13	155.2	7	5	3.9	9	5	([[38]])
10 or more	340	344	4	30	330	30	85	26	257.6	14	7	4.1	4	3	([[38]])

[38]. Not shown when base is less than 50.