§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Minister of Health is satisfied that the intra-uterine contraceptives which are being used in Birmingham by a family planning organisation are desirable in the interest of the women's health, and whether these instruments are not truly contraceptive, but abortifacients which act by setting up a chronic irritation of the uterus.
§ LORD NEWTONMy right honourable friend understands that the clinical trials planned in Birmingham form part of a wider series in progress both in this country and in other parts of the world, including the United States of America, Israel and Japan. The trials are coordinated by the Population Council which is sponsored jointly by the Rockefeller Brothers, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation in the United States of America. The device has been in use in other countries for more than four years and in this country for about two years. There is no evidence that it has been the cause of chronic irritation or had other harmful effects on health. The British Council of Churches in a Report published in 1962 expressed the view that this method of birth control is contraceptive and not abortifacient.
House adjourned at twenty minutes before nine o'clock.