Med School Professors Will Testify Before State Birth Control Hearing

Two Harvard Medical School professors will testify this morning at the State House in support of a bill which would legalize birth control in Massachusetts.

Dr. Duncan E. Reid, William Lambert Richardson Professor of Obstetrics, and Dr. David D. Rutstein '30, professor of preventive medicine, will appear before the Joint Committee on Public Health of the General Court to support House Bill No. 1401 which they introduced into the General Court last December.

The bill would amend present Massachusetts criminal statutes which prohibit the prescription or sale of contraceptive devices by physicians or pharmacists. Under the statutes, which were enacted between 1840 and 1880, a doctor is also Forbidden to advise a patient on birth-control methods.

The Committee to Support House Bill 1401 stated yesterday that the professors will testify to "developments in the fields of maternal and child health," and to "changes in social conditions" which justify, in their opinion, the proposed amendments.

The Joint Committee will consider today's testimony and decide whether or not to recommend the bill for consideration in the present session of the General Court.