Cabinet papers | When contraceptives were ‘obscene articles’

In 1962 the newly-elected Nationalist government was faced by a legal anomaly: while it was illegal to receive contraceptives and any literature on their use by mail, it was not illegal to import contraceptives through customs.

The issue was resolved by introducing a complete ban on imports of contraceptives. 

The Minister presented a detailed memorandum on this issue to cabinet for Industrial Development and Tourism on 3 November 1962.

The memorandum referred to the post office act, which made it illegal to transmit by post, any indecent or obscene print, pictures lithograph, engraving, card or any "indecent article".

The memo refers to a ruling by the Attorney General in 1947, which concluded that books "divulging the means or explaining the ways of contraception" were indecent.  The AG also ruled that contraceptives themselves "were indecent and obscene articles".

But this did not apply to goods which were imported through customs, as these were regulated by a government notice, which prohibited the importation of "any indecent, obscene or impious print, newspaper or printed matter".

The Attorney General had concluded that this did not empower governments to withhold the release of contraceptives.

"Thus there is the anomaly that contraceptives are stopped when sent by mail in small quantities but are allowed to be imported when sent in large quantities through Customs."

In order to remove the anomaly the Attorney General recommended a legal notice to enable customs to withhold the release of contraception from customs.