In 1930, the Lambeth Conference again affirmed the primary purpose of marriage to be the procreation of children, but conceded that, in certain limited circumstances, contraception might be morally legitimate.

In 1958, the Conference endorsed birth control as the responsibility laid by God on parents everywhere.

Many other Protestant denominations preceded the Anglicans in such action. In March, 1931, 22 out of 28 members of a committee of the Federal Council of Churches ratified artificial methods of birth control. ``As to the necessity,'' the committee declared, ``for some form of effective control of the size of the family and the spacing of children, and consequently of control of conception, there can be no question. There is general agreement also that sex union between husbands and wives as an expression of mutual affection without relation to procreation is right.''

Since then, many Protestant denominations have made separate pronouncements, in which they not only approved birth control, but declared it at times to be a religious duty. What determines the morality, they state, is not the means used, but the motive. In general, the means (excluding abortion) that prove most effective are considered the most ethical.

This development is reflected in the action taken in February, 1961, by the general board of the National Council of Churches, the largest Protestant organization in the US. The board approved and commended the use of birth-control devices as a part of Christian responsibility in family planning. It called for opposition to laws and institutional practices restricting the information or availability of contraceptives.