The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1921-09-16
SAVE THE MOTHERS
TO PRESERVE THE RACE

1t is hard to think of collaborating
as a dangerous" process and one
which often means the sacrifice of
the mothers life, but so it is, for
within a single year the health rec
ords show that $4,000 women lost
their lives from causes directly or
indirectly related to child birth.
Medical science has been careful
ly attacking the problems of other
diseases, with the result that within
the past twenty years deaths from
typhoid fever have been reduced one
half, and deaths from tuberculosis
have also been greatly decreased,
while maternal deaths keep steadily
on, with but little change in num-
bers.
America, with all it's commercial
and industrial progress, has done
comparatively little along this line,
and statistics show that our country
stands fifteenth in the list of ma
tions in its maternal deaths. In fact,
only Spain and Switzerland have
more deaths than America from this
cause, and at last America is waking
up to the need for reform along this
line
A bill for the protection of mater
nifty and infancy is now before our
National Congress, and ii it is pass
ed, it VIII mean that provision will
be made for giving to expectant
mothers the care they should have
in order to preserve their own lives
and to insure for their babies meas
ure of protection. This bill has met
much opposition, the financial fig
ures have been CUT and it is being
delayed from time to time, while
other measures providing for money
to fight diseases in cattle are being
Endorsed and protected.
Every woman in America will feel
that no greater work could be under
taken than that involved in protect
ing the lives of mothers in general,
but at the same time it must be re-
membered that every woman can do
her own part in protecting her own
and her neighbours life when there is
prospect of child bearing and the
first thing to be done under these
circumstances is to understand the
dangers which surround such q con-
dition
First of all, women during the
child bearing period must realize
that change is taking place in their
entire systems; functions which usu2
ally work perfectly and without out
side help often become torpid; the
liver, bowels, kidneys are all called
upon to do double duty, as it were,
and often they are not equal to the
demands made upon them.
Therefore, EVERY woman, no
matter how well she may seem to
herself, should consult a physician |
when she knows that she is pregnant |
or when she suspects it, and should
follow the directions given her. Of
ten these directions will not make |
it necessary for her to change her
regular habits of life much. Posi- |
bly, she will be told to give up por-
tion of each day to rest maybe, too,
she will be asked to report regularly |
at intervals varying in length from
two weeks to two months, so that
the doctor may be able to make GER
tain examinations and to determine
just what special treatment may be
needed.
The State Board of Health of many |
States, and of North Carolina GER
tainly, asks for the names of all wom
en- who are expectant mothers. Spe-
cial literature is sent to such women
from time to time and they are
taught many necessary things about
their own health and how to protect
it.
Such projections all protect the
life of the unborn child, and no
mother who knows the need of care
full attention for herself in order to
help her child will permit anything
to interfere with her taking such
recautions.-Contributed by Nurs-
ing Service, Southern Division Red
Cross.