- A doctor's wife is the head of a bureau that publishes and hands out literature on birth control. However, the police stop it and forbid her to speak in meetings about the secret that was open to the rich but closed to the poor. She is arrested for holding a meeting anyway, is arrested, but convinces her husband and a judge of the soundness of her beliefs.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
- Dr. Frank Broome, an influential physician and surgeon, learns through the Chief of Police that his wife is active in disseminating literature relating to birth control. Dr. Broome secures the release of his wife by pledging his word that she will cease her activities in spreading this propaganda. Dr. Broome expostulates with his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Graham, wealthy friends, bring their troubles to the Doctor. Mrs. Graham has her hands full with three children. Mrs. Broome relates the story of Sarah, her former nurse-maid, married to a poor but hard-working man. Sarah's life too is made miserable because their limited income cannot support the babies. Sarah visits the doctor's wife for advice, and Mrs. Broome, possessed of the knowledge that will help her in the future, sees her duty clearly. Sarah's imperiled future is saved. The wealthy Mr. Graham refuses to profit by the lesson of Sarah's story, and insists that the matter is too personal for discussion. Mrs. Broome notifies the Chief of Police that she considers herself freed of the promise made by her husband. The spectacle of a poor consumptive woman is such that Mrs. Broome determines to tell all women the message she has for oppressed womanhood. The police learn of her activity and the promised meeting. The wealthy Mr. Graham, in the search of pleasure, begins to spend his evenings alone, away from home. Mrs. Graham suspects that he is not spending his evenings at the club. She leaves her husband, but through the efforts of the physician and Mr. Graham's promise of future good behavior, she is finally led to forgive. On Saturday afternoon at Kernan's Hall, hundreds of women gather to hear Mrs. Broome make her promised address to women only. In the midst of Mrs. Broome's remarks the police arrest her and Sarah for spreading a propaganda in violation of state laws. Mrs. Broome and Sarah serve sentence in prison for their activities. Finally pardoned by the governor, they find consolation for the future in this extract from the celebrated speech of Judge John Stelk, delivered in Chicago, February 8, 1917, in which he says: "To my mind there is no controversy about Birth Control, except in so far as how and by whom it should be exercised. When a poor woman appears before me with her sickly, underfed, unwashed brood of nine children, and says she does not want to take back her drunken husband because it will mean another child added to her burden In a few months, my heart and soul cry aloud for a law that will permit a doctor to tell her openly what he has told the rich women in secret."
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