1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. I've been 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,760 Speaker 1: circling the idea of an episode on Griswold versus Connecticut 5 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: for years. That's the U. S. Supreme Court decision that 6 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: overturned laws banning contraception, at least when it came to 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: married couples. That's connected to several of our previous episodes 8 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: as well, But the recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs 9 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: versus Jackson Women's Health Organization is really what finally propelled 10 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: it up to the top. That's the decision that came 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: out just recently which overturned Roe versus Wade and Planned 12 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: Parenthood versus Casey. And in the concurring opinion that he 13 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: wrote on this case, Justice Claris Thomas wrote, quote, in 14 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: future are cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's 15 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefeld. So 16 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: substantive due process that's the idea that courts can protect 17 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: various rights that aren't specifically named in the Constitution. And 18 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: in this case, it's the right to privacy. Griswold versus 19 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: Connecticut wasn't the very first Supreme Court decision ever in 20 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: the US to mention the right of a concept of privacy, 21 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: but it was a major decision in that regard. I 22 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: personally always had a lot of trouble understanding the logic 23 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: behind the decision of Roe versus Wade, not the outcome, 24 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: but like the reasoning of how they got there, which 25 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: was essentially the abortion was also protected under a right 26 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: to privacy. That logic, though, makes a lot more sense 27 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: to me with Griswold versus Connecticut as background. And then 28 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: this decision is also mentioned, and a lot of other 29 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: decisions that came after it, beyond just the ones that 30 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: were mentioned in Thomas's concurring opinions. So that's what we're 31 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: talking about today. Heads up. Obviously we're gonna be talking 32 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: a lot about contraception in this episode. There's also a 33 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: bit about abortion and some things related to pregnancy and 34 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: birth related trauma. Griswold versus Connecticut overturned a law that 35 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: was sometimes described as a quote little Comstock law that 36 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: was a nickname for various state anti obscenity laws. That 37 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: were similar to the Comstock Act of eighteen seventy three, 38 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: or more formally known as an Act for the Suppression 39 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: of Trade in and Circulation of Obscene Literature and Articles 40 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: of Immoral use. This law was named for social reformer 41 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: Anthony Comstock, coincidentally also of Connecticut. Comstock served in the 42 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: Union Army during the U S Civil War. His upbringing 43 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: had been deeply conservative, and during his time in the 44 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: army he really disapproved of a lot of his fellow 45 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: soldier's behavior, especial really things like gambling and drinking, using tobacco, 46 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: and swearing, And then for their part, his fellow soldiers 47 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: seemed to have seen him mostly as a sanctimonious prude. 48 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: After the war was over, Comstock moved to New York, 49 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: where he similarly really disapproved of the prevalence of things 50 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: like sex work and explicit literature, so he started advocating 51 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: for anti obscenity and anti vice laws. He started out 52 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: doing much of this work through the Young Men's Christian 53 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: Association or y m c A, before heading up a 54 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: new organization just for that purpose that was the New 55 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: York Society for the Suppression of Vice. These two organizations 56 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: continued to be closely connected. Y M. C, a leader, 57 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: served on the society's board. There were already laws on 58 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: the books in various states at this point that regulated 59 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: or outlawed things like sex work or obscenity, but Comstock 60 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: did not think that these laws went far enough. He 61 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: advocated for a much broader federal law, and he developed 62 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: reports on things like sex work, drug use, and sexually 63 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: explicit printed materials and delivered them to members of Congress. 64 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: If he really argued that all of these things were 65 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: correcting children, and they were encouraging crime, and he thought 66 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: they should all be outlawed. The Comstock Act was signed 67 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: into law in March of eighteen seventy three. It outlawed 68 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 1: using the United States Postal Service to send any quote, obscene, lewd, 69 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, print, or other publication 70 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: of an indecent character, or any article or thing designed 71 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion. 72 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: It applied to quote any article or thing intended or 73 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: adapted for any indecent or immoral use or nature. This 74 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: also included advertisements, notices, and other publications. Violating this law 75 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: was punishable with a fine of not less than one 76 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,799 Speaker 1: hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars, or hard 77 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: labor of not less than one year or more than 78 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: ten years, or both. After having successfully lobbied for this 79 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,160 Speaker 1: law to be passed, Comstock was made a special agent 80 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: for the United States Postal Service, and he was tasked 81 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: with enforcing it there. Since the Act didn't actually define 82 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: what obscenity was, a lot of this was up to 83 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: his discretion. There was also a lot of focus on 84 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: materials related to contraception, which was specifically referenced in the law. 85 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: Comstock claimed that his work in this role led to 86 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: the successful prosecutions of more than thirty six hundred people, 87 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: and he claimed that he had destroyed more than a 88 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty tons of literature that was, at least 89 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: in his opinion, obscene. While various states already had anti 90 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: obscenity laws in place before the Comstock Act was passed, 91 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,679 Speaker 1: some revised their laws afterward, and many many other states 92 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: passed new ones. By the early twentieth century, nearly every 93 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: state had some kind of anti obscenity law. Ultimately, thirty 94 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: one states legally defined information about contraception as obscenity, and 95 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: twenty four states also banned the sale of contraceptives. So 96 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: to point out one of the links back to an 97 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: earlier episode of the podcast when we talked about Catherine 98 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: Dexter McCormick, who provided a big part of the funding 99 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: for developing oral contraceptives. We talked about her smuggling diaphragms 100 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: into the United States from Europe by sewing them into 101 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: the hymns and linings of her clothes. Because diaphragms were illegal. 102 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: This was why contraceptive advocates and other reformers pushed for 103 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 1: the repeal of the Comstock Act and all the various 104 00:06:55,200 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: state little Comstocks for decades. In nineteen sixteen, birth control 105 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: advocate Margaret Sanger was tried for violating New York's anti 106 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: obscenity law when she tried to import contraceptive diaphragms into 107 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: the United States. The New York State Court of Appeals 108 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: decided that doctors were exempt from the law because they 109 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: were making decisions for their patients health and well being 110 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: rather than for some obscene purpose, but Sanger's conviction was 111 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: upheld because she was not a doctor, so that case 112 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: was specific to New York. At the federal level, a 113 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: similar case started dismantling the Comstock Acts prohibitions on birth 114 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: control in nineteen thirty six. This case was United States 115 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: versus One package of Japanese pessaries, which was heard in 116 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 117 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: in New York City. This package named in the case 118 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: was a box of a hundred and twenty contraceptive diaphragms. 119 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: The physician Hannah Stone, who was working with Margaret Sanger, 120 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: had tried to import from Japan. The package was used 121 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: at customs because importing contraceptives was illegal under the Teriff 122 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: Act of nineteen thirty which had similar provisions to the 123 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: Comstock Act. Because Stone had not taken possession of the shipment, 124 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: she had not technically violated the terms of the Teriff Act, 125 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: so this case was filed against the package itself. Stone 126 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: and her attorneys stood in for the package at trial. 127 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: This is a weirder thing that happens in the laws 128 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: sometimes where you file suit against an inanimate object. The 129 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: US Court of Appeals followed the same basic logic that 130 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: the New York State Court of Appeals had in the 131 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: earlier case against Margaret Sanger. The anti obscenity provisions in 132 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: the Terriff Act and also the Comstock Act didn't apply 133 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 1: to physicians because their work as doctors was about patient 134 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: health and not obscenity. So in terms of federal law, 135 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: United States versus One Package essentially legalized contraception if that 136 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: contraception was provided by a docter. But this ruling didn't 137 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: overturn the laws that were still on the books in 138 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: various states. Most states eventually repealed or otherwise overturned their 139 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: anti contraception laws by the time the Food and Drug 140 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: Administration approved the first oral contraceptive pill in nineteen sixty. 141 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: But at that point, Connecticut's law remained in place, and 142 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: we'll get to that after a sponsor break. Connecticut's anti 143 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: contraception law dated back to eighteen seventy nine. One of 144 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: its primary supporters had been the chair of the Connecticut 145 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: Legislature Joint Committee on Temperance. That was Phineas Taylor Barnum. Yes, 146 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: that is P. T. Barnum, the circus guy. Under this 147 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 1: law quote, any person who uses any drug, medicinal article, 148 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: or instrument for the purposes of preventing conception shall be 149 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: find not less than forty dollars or imprisoned not less 150 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: than sixty days. The law also said, quote any person 151 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: who assists a bets, counsels, causes, hires, or commands another 152 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 1: to commit any offense may be prosecuted and punished as 153 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: if he were the principal offender. So, in other words, 154 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: under this law, using contraception was illegal, and so was 155 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: providing contraception or counseling people about it. People in Connecticut 156 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: lobbied for the repeal of the law for decades. This 157 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 1: escalated in ninety three after Katherine Hotton Hepburn and two 158 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: of her friends established the Connecticut branch of the American 159 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: Birth Control League. Katherine Hotton Hepburn was the mother of 160 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: actor Katherine Hepburn, and the American Birth Control League later 161 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,960 Speaker 1: became known as Planned Parenthood. But in night, authorities rated 162 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,960 Speaker 1: a contraceptive clinic in Waterbury, Connecticut and pressed charges against 163 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 1: its medical staff, which put an end to services at 164 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,560 Speaker 1: the clinic and also put a damper on the rest 165 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:07,560 Speaker 1: of the movement. So we should take a moment to 166 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: note the birth control movement during this era was deeply flawed. 167 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: Although it was rooted in the basic idea of allowing 168 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: people to choose when and whether to have children. Some 169 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: of its leaders, including Margaret Singer, were also proponents of 170 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: eugenics that's rooted in the idea that the human race 171 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: can be improved through things like good breeding. So broadly speaking, 172 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: positive eugenics was focused on encouraging the so called right 173 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,559 Speaker 1: people to have more children, while negative eugenics was focused 174 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: on preventing the quote wrong people from reproducing. This entire 175 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: idea of eugenics was simultaneously racist, ablest, and incredibly widely adopted, 176 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: including in some cases by leaders of various groups of 177 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: people that the eugenics movement as a whole saw as inferior. 178 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: Negative eugenics and particular led to horrific human rights abuses 179 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: and was a major influence on Nazi racial policy. But 180 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: what we're really focused on in this episode today is 181 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: access to contraception. Eventually, Connecticut mostly stopped in forcing its 182 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 1: anti contraception law, but since it was still in the books, 183 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:24,080 Speaker 1: this led to disparities and who could get contraceptives. Condoms 184 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: were available at some drug stores, but they weren't an 185 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: option for everyone, especially for people whose partners refused to 186 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: wear condoms, or for people who needed a more discreet 187 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: way to prevent pregnancy without their partner being involved. Middle 188 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: and upper class people, especially married couples, who had money 189 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 1: and access to private medical care, could usually find a 190 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: doctor who was willing to provide them with contraception in 191 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: spite of the law, or if not that at least 192 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: to connect them with another provider in a state where 193 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,559 Speaker 1: it was legal. But poor people who didn't have these 194 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: kinds of resources off and could not, and people of 195 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: color who were working within their own communities as doctors 196 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: were generally at a lot more risk than white doctors were. 197 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,760 Speaker 1: Compounding that, if they were arrested and lost their medical license, 198 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: that could mean the loss of medical care for that 199 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: whole community. That was something people had to take into 200 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,839 Speaker 1: account when deciding whether to try to get around the law. 201 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty, the Connecticut Supreme Court heard State versus Nelson, 202 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: involving a case against two doctors who had been running 203 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:33,440 Speaker 1: a birth control clinic, one that authorities seemed to have 204 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: ignored until clergy in the predominantly Catholic neighborhood where it 205 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: was located demanded it be investigated. The doctor's attorneys argued 206 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,439 Speaker 1: that the anti contraception law shouldn't apply to them because 207 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: they were prescribing contraception two married women for the sake 208 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: of their health and well being. The court found that 209 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: the law was unambiguous, contraception was illegal no matter who 210 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: was prescribing it, and upheld it. After this, the state 211 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: prosecutor agreed to drop charges against the doctors if they 212 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 1: closed their clinic, which they did, and that led the 213 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: other clinics in the state to also shut down. Yeah, 214 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:13,680 Speaker 1: there had been I mean this whole time, there had 215 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 1: been people who were trying to provide birth control, and 216 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: it was like the threat that since the state had 217 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: upheld the law, that other clinics were also going to 218 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: be targeted just led a lot of people to make 219 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,320 Speaker 1: the desisn't to shut down. So three years later, Yale 220 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 1: Medical School professor Wilder Tileston filed suit on behalf of patients, 221 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: arguing that the Connecticut law needed to have an exception 222 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: for people whose lives would be at risk if they 223 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: became pregnant. This led to the Connecticut Supreme Court case 224 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: of Tileston versus. Ullman. Allman was the Connecticut States Attorney 225 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 1: Abraham Ullman. The Connecticut Supreme Court rejected Tileston's arguments, noting 226 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: that people already had a way to prevent pregnancy that 227 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 1: was quote positive and certain in results. That method was abstinence. 228 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: The U. S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in this case, 229 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: but eventually dismissed it quote. We are of the opinion 230 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: that the proceedings in the state courts present no constitutional 231 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: question which appellant has standing to assert. On June twenty three, 232 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:22,120 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty the f d A approved the first oral contraceptive. 233 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: There's more about this in our Nelson Pill Hearings episode 234 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: from May. By this point, public opinion polls suggested that 235 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 1: more than seventy percent of people in the United States 236 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: thought information about contraception should be legal. The introduction of 237 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 1: oral contraceptives, which were in many ways more reliable and 238 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: more convenient than other available methods of contraception, also added 239 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 1: a renewed urgency to the effort to get Connecticut's law repealed. 240 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty one, the U. S. Supreme Court heard 241 00:15:55,320 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: two cases related to Connecticut's anti contraception law and was 242 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,400 Speaker 1: trueback versus Ullman. Again, that's the same Abraham Aulman as before. 243 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: Louise and Dave Truebeck had gotten married in ninety eight 244 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: while they were both students at Yale Law School. They 245 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: wanted to have children one day. They did not want 246 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: to have children where they were both in law school, 247 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: but it was illegal for their doctor to discuss contraception 248 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: with them. The true Back's case had originally been part 249 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: of a group of other cases, but they elected not 250 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: to remain anonymous and their case was heard separately. The 251 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 1: other case was Poe versus Ullman, and it involved an 252 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: anonymous couple and an anonymous married woman. The couple were 253 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: known as Pauline and Paul Poe. They had had three children, 254 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: all of whom had multiple congenital illnesses and had died 255 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: as newborns. They thought it was unlikely that they could 256 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: have a child that would survive infancy, and they wanted 257 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: to avoid future pregnancies. The married woman was known as 258 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: Jane Doe. She had had a stroke while pregnant and 259 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: her child had been stillborn. She was disabled following the stroke, 260 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,879 Speaker 1: and it was unlikely that she could survive another pregnancy. 261 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: These people all lived in Connecticut, where it was illegal 262 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: for their doctors to discuss contraception with them. In a 263 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: five to four ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed this case, 264 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,120 Speaker 1: finding that quote, the records in these cases do not 265 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:28,680 Speaker 1: present controversies justifying the adjudication of a constitutional issue. Justice 266 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 1: Felix Frankfurter authored the opinion, which set in part quote, 267 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: this Court cannot be umpire to debates concerning harmless empty shadows. 268 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,440 Speaker 1: In other words, because Connecticut wasn't really enforcing this law 269 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: very strictly anymore, it was harmless and empty in the 270 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:48,800 Speaker 1: eyes of the Court. Also, because none of these plaintiffs 271 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: had been arrested or convicted of anything, there was no 272 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: injury for the Court to need to remedy. The Court 273 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:59,840 Speaker 1: also dismissed Trobec versus Allman without further comment. As part 274 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: as the same set of decisions, the dissenting justices in 275 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,879 Speaker 1: Poe versus Almen all issued their own opinions, arguing, among 276 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 1: other things, that people should not have to break the 277 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: law to get basic health information and that there shouldn't 278 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: need to be an arrest and conviction in order for 279 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: the Court to rule on whether a law was unconstitutional. 280 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: The dissent by Justice William O. Douglas said, in part quote, 281 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: what are these people, doctor and patients to do flout 282 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: the law and go to prison, violate the law surreptitiously, 283 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 1: and hope they will not get caught. By today's decision, 284 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: we leave them no other alternatives. It is not the 285 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: choice they need have under the regime of the declaratory 286 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: judgment and our constitutional system. It is not the choice 287 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: worthy of a civilized society. A sick wife, a concerned husband, 288 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: a conscientious doctor seek a dignified, discreete orderly answer to 289 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,679 Speaker 1: the critical problem confronting them. We should not turn them 290 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 1: away and make them flout the law and get arrested 291 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: to have their constitutional rights determined. So after this, it 292 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: seemed like the Supreme Court would only be willing to 293 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,680 Speaker 1: examine Connecticut's law if somebody had been convicted of breaking it. 294 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: So immediately after the Court announced its decision on June nineteenth, 295 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: nine sixty one, Estelle Griswold and Charles Lee Buxton decided 296 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: it was time to get arrested. Griswold was executive director 297 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, Buxton was its 298 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 1: medical director, and Jane Doe and Pauline and Paul Poe 299 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:38,400 Speaker 1: had been his patients. At this point. Planned Parenthood League 300 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 1: of Connecticut had mostly been providing people with transportation to 301 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,200 Speaker 1: New York or Rhode Island, where contraception was legal, rather 302 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: than directly providing contraception. But on June twenty, nineteen sixty one, 303 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 1: just a day after the Supreme Court decision, Griswold and 304 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: Buxton announced that they would be opening a contraceptive clinic 305 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 1: in New Haven. The clinic opened on November one of 306 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: that year, advertising its services specifically to married couples. They 307 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:09,960 Speaker 1: saw ten patients on the first day in operation, and 308 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: they also held a press conference. Two days later, police 309 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,879 Speaker 1: stopped by, and Griswold helpfully told them all about the 310 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: work they were doing, the contraceptives they were providing, the 311 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: counseling that was available to patients, the literature they had available, 312 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,200 Speaker 1: and the fact that they knew it was all illegal. 313 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: On June tenth, police returned with lawrence for Griswold and 314 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,200 Speaker 1: Buxton's arrest, and the clinic was shut down. Griswold and 315 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: Buxton stood trial, and their attorneys argued that counseling married 316 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: couples on the use of contraception was protected free speech. 317 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: The two were convicted and find one hundred dollars each 318 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,600 Speaker 1: and after a series of appeals, their case was before 319 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,880 Speaker 1: the U. S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren. 320 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: The Warren Court has come up several times on the show. 321 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: Earl Warren was Chief Justice when Loving versus Virginia, Brown 322 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: versus Board of Education, and Hernandez versus Texas were all decided. 323 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,639 Speaker 1: He was also Chief Justice during Yates versus United States, 324 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 1: which we talked about in our episode on cohen'telpro. We've 325 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:14,919 Speaker 1: also talked about his time as Governor of California on 326 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: a couple of episodes, including our two parter on Executive 327 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,680 Speaker 1: Order ninety six and the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans 328 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: during World War Two. We will get to the Court's 329 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: decision after we pause for a sponsor break. On June seven, 330 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,199 Speaker 1: five and a seven to two ruling, the U. S. 331 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: Supreme Court issued its decision in Griswold versus Connecticut, and 332 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:50,639 Speaker 1: it overturned Connecticut's anti contraception laws. The justices who were 333 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: part of the court authored multiple opinions in this case. 334 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: Justice William O. Douglas, who had authored one of the 335 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,919 Speaker 1: descents and po versus Ullman, which read earlier, authored the 336 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 1: majority opinion. Justice Arthur Goldberg wrote a concurring opinion that 337 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: was joined by Justice William J. Brennan Jr. And Chief 338 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:14,719 Speaker 1: Justice Warren. Justices John M. Harland the Second and Byron 339 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 1: White each issued their own concurring opinions, and then Justices Hugo. 340 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,560 Speaker 1: Black and Potter Stewart dissented, as they had also done 341 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 1: in po versus Almond, and each of them wrote their 342 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:30,440 Speaker 1: own descents. The Court found that one Griswold and Buxton 343 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,399 Speaker 1: did have standing in this matter, something that had been 344 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,680 Speaker 1: an issue in those earlier cases. And the Court also 345 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,400 Speaker 1: found that quote the Connecticut Statute forbidding use of contraceptives 346 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: violates the right of marital privacy, which is within the 347 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: pnumbra of specific Guarantees of the Bill of Rights. So 348 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: the easy part with that is that the Court found 349 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:55,400 Speaker 1: Connecticut's ban on contraceptives to be unconstitutional, But the rest 350 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:57,720 Speaker 1: of it is a little trickier because a right to 351 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: marital privacy isn't mentioned or enumerated in the Constitution. Like 352 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:05,640 Speaker 1: we set up at the very top of the show, 353 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: substantive due process is the idea that the courts can 354 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: protect unenumerated rights, and in Griswold versus Connecticut. The court 355 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: was arguing that the rights of privacy was found in 356 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: the pannumbra, or the shadow of other rights that are mentioned. 357 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 1: The majority opinion referenced a series of previous cases in 358 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,359 Speaker 1: which protected rights were interpreted as being broader than what 359 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: was spelled out in the Constitution. For example, in Mayer 360 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 1: versus State of Nebraska, the court had struck down a 361 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 1: law mandating that children be taught only in English through 362 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,320 Speaker 1: the eighth grade. The court found that this violated the 363 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,399 Speaker 1: due process clause of the fourteenth Amendment, which says that 364 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 1: no state shall quote deprive any person of life, liberty, 365 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,440 Speaker 1: or property without due process of law. In this case, 366 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: a teacher in a Lutheran school was teaching reading in German, 367 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: and the court found that even though the fourt Amendment 368 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: didn't reference things like languages other than English, quote, his 369 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: right thus to teach, and the right of parents to 370 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,400 Speaker 1: engage him so to instruct their children, we think are 371 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: within the liberty of the Amendment. The majority opinion in 372 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 1: Griswold versus Connecticut then ticked through a series of similar 373 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,240 Speaker 1: cases and their associated freedoms. Like in earlier cases, the 374 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: court had found that the First Amendment protection of free 375 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: speech also included the right to read and to receive information. 376 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: The Court had also described the First Amendment freedom to assemble, 377 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,679 Speaker 1: as extending to the freedom of association with other people. 378 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: So assembly did not just mean physically going to a meeting. 379 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,680 Speaker 1: It also involved being affiliated with a group and expressing 380 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: personal philosophies through being a member of that group. Having 381 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,959 Speaker 1: been through all of that, the majority opinion read quote 382 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:58,120 Speaker 1: the foregoing cases suggests that specific guarantees in the Bill 383 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: of Rights have pnumbers formed by emanations from those guarantees 384 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:07,119 Speaker 1: to help give them life and substance. Various guarantees create 385 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:11,199 Speaker 1: zones of privacy. The right of association contained in the 386 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: pannumbra of the First Amendment is one, as we have seen. 387 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: The Third Amendment, in its prohibition against the quartering of 388 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: soldiers in any house in time of peace without the 389 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:25,879 Speaker 1: consent of the owner, is another facet of that privacy. 390 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 1: The Fourth Amendment explicitly affirms the right of the people 391 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects 392 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fifth Amendment, in its 393 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: self incrimination clause, enables the citizens to create a zone 394 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: of privacy, which government may not force him to surrender 395 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: to his detriment. The Ninth Amendment provides the enumeration in 396 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,119 Speaker 1: the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to 397 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 1: deny or disparage others retained by the people. Yeah, that 398 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,359 Speaker 1: last one basically means just because a specific right is 399 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: not mentioned in the Constitution, that doesn't mean that right 400 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: doesn't exist. Like just not saying every single right on 401 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: the planet has to be specifically named or it's not 402 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,199 Speaker 1: a real thing. This decision went on to build the 403 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:17,040 Speaker 1: idea of a zone of privacy that was specifically related 404 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:21,399 Speaker 1: to a marital relationship. Quote. The present case then concerns 405 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: a relationship lying within the zone of privacy created by 406 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: several fundamental constitutional guarantees. And it concerns a law which, 407 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 1: in forbidding the use of contraceptives, rather than regulating their 408 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,679 Speaker 1: manufacture or sale, seeks to achieve its goals by means 409 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 1: having a maximum destructive impact upon that relationship. It went 410 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: on to rhetorically ask, quote, would we allow the police 411 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,880 Speaker 1: to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale 412 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: signs of the use of contraceptives? The very idea is 413 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:57,560 Speaker 1: repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship. 414 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: So all those various concuring opinions agreed with the idea 415 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,959 Speaker 1: that the right to privacy could be inferred from some 416 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: part of the Constitution. They just all differed a little 417 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: bit on exactly how or where. And then the two 418 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,639 Speaker 1: dissenting justices made it clear that they did not like 419 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,440 Speaker 1: this law either, even though they didn't find that there 420 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: was a constitutional reason to overturn it. Justice Hugo Black's 421 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: descent read in part quote, I feel constrained to add 422 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 1: that the law is every bit as offensive to me 423 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: as it is to my brethren of the majority, and 424 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 1: my brothers Harlan White and Goldberg, who, reciting reasons why 425 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: it is offensive to them, hold it unconstitutional. Justice Potter 426 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: Stewart wrote in his dissent quote, I think this is 427 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: an uncommonly silly law. As a practical matter, the law 428 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: is obviously unenforceable except in the oblique context of the 429 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: present case. It's a philosophical matter. I believe the use 430 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: of contraceptives in the relationship of marriage should be left 431 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,919 Speaker 1: to personal and private choice. They based upon each individual's moral, 432 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 1: ethical and religious beliefs. As a matter of social policy, 433 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: I think professional counsel about methods of birth control should 434 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 1: be available to all so that each individual's choice can 435 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: be meaningfully made. But we are not asked in this 436 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: case to say whether we think this law is unwise 437 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: or even assinine. We are asked to hold that it 438 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: violates the United States Constitution, and that I cannot do. 439 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,399 Speaker 1: The majority, though, had found that it violated the Constitution, 440 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: and by finding Connecticut's anti contraception law unconstitutional, the Supreme 441 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: Court made contraception and contraceptive counseling legal nationwide in the 442 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: context of married couples. So this also struck down the 443 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: anti contraception language in the Comstock Act, which was still 444 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: on the books. So this was a victory in terms 445 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: of access to contraception, but it was definitely incomplete. Number One, 446 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: it applied only of married couples. The focus was on 447 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: the idea that privacy was intrinsic to a married relationship, 448 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: so laws forbidding contraceptive use or counseling for single people 449 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 1: were unaffected. Number two, This idea that there were pnumbras 450 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: creating zones of privacy was immediately controversial. There were and 451 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: continue to be legal scholars who argued that this isn't 452 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: really a thing and that this was faulty reasoning on 453 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:32,080 Speaker 1: the part of the justices. Beyond that, there were people, 454 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: particularly women's rights activists, who raised concerns about this ruling's focus. 455 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: There is no constitutional guarantee of equal rights for women 456 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: in the United States, and at this point, the Equal 457 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: Rights Amendment had not yet been passed by Congress. As 458 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,960 Speaker 1: we discussed in our previous episode on the Equal Rights Amendment. 459 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: Even though Congress did eventually pass it, not enough states 460 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: ratified it by the deadline for it to become part 461 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,280 Speaker 1: of the Constitution. So there were a lot of women 462 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: in particular who thought that the court should have used 463 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: a different reasoning, like maybe one that interpreted the Fourteenth 464 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: Amendments equal protection and do process clauses as protecting a 465 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 1: woman's right to bodily autonomy. We recognize that not everyone 466 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: who can get pregnant is a woman, including trans men 467 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,840 Speaker 1: and non binary people, and that there were also plenty 468 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: of people living at the time who were living outside 469 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: the gender binary in various ways. But really the focus 470 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: of the response of this in nineteen sixty five was 471 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: on women. During research for this episode, Tracy read a 472 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: paper in the American Historical Review suggested that this privacy 473 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: angle might have been influenced by the Wolfenden Report, which 474 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 1: was published in the u K in nineteen fifty seven. 475 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 1: This report followed a rise in convictions for breaking laws 476 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: against homosexual behavior, including convictions of some high profile men. 477 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 1: A committee was formed to investigate UK laws around homosexuality 478 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: and sex work, and it recommended decriminalis a sation of homosexuality. 479 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 1: In the words of that report, their quote must remain 480 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: a realm of private morality and immorality, which is, in 481 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:13,479 Speaker 1: brief and crude terms, not the law's business. But if 482 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:16,720 Speaker 1: this idea influenced the thought process of the justices in 483 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,479 Speaker 1: Griswold versus Connecticut, it didn't make its way into Supreme 484 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: Court decisions about same sex relationships until much later. As 485 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: we said at the top of the show, the Supreme 486 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: Court decision in Griswold versus Connecticut and the reasoning that 487 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 1: was used to make that decision have become part of 488 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 1: a lot of other cases. In nineteen sixty nine, the 489 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: Supreme Court sided Griswold be Connecticut, and its decision in 490 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:44,720 Speaker 1: Stanley versus Georgia, which found that possession of obscene materials 491 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: was protected in part because of a right to privacy. 492 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: In ninety two, the Court struck down in Massachusetts law 493 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: banning the distribution of contraceptives two unmarried people. Although the 494 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: question before the court was whether this law violated the 495 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 1: privacy standard established in Griswold versus Connecticut, the Court found 496 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment Due process clause. In 497 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, the Court issued its decision in Row 498 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: versus Wade, finding the right to privacy established in Griswold 499 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: as being inherent in the due process clause of the 500 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: Fourteenth Amendment and also extending to a person's decision to 501 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,360 Speaker 1: terminate a pregnancy. But the Court also ruled that this 502 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:29,000 Speaker 1: right had to be balanced out with other concerns related 503 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: to protecting a person's health and to quote, the potentiality 504 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 1: of human life. In nine six, the Supreme Court cited 505 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 1: Griswold versus Connecticut and its ruling in Bowers versus Hardwick, 506 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:45,680 Speaker 1: which upheld a Georgia law banning sodomy. Although attorneys had 507 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 1: argued that sodomy was protected under the right to privacy 508 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: that was established in Griswold. The Court disagreed. This ruling 509 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: was overturned in two thousand three in Lawrence versus Texas, 510 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,760 Speaker 1: which was related to both the right to privacy and 511 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: to the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and 512 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,400 Speaker 1: the Court once again issued a ruling that was partly 513 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 1: underpinned by Griswold versus Connecticut, and that was Oberga Fell 514 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: versus Hodges. This decision recognized same sex marriages as legal nationwide, 515 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 1: and it cited Griswold at several points, including the decisions 516 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: description of marriage as a right that's older than the 517 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: Bill of Rights. And most recently, the Court issued its 518 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: decision in Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade. 519 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 1: This decision also overturned Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which 520 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:40,920 Speaker 1: the Court had upheld Roe v. Wade and a constitutional 521 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: right to abortion. In the court's opinion, written by Justice 522 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: Samuel Alito, noted that the Constitution makes no mention of abortion, 523 00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,880 Speaker 1: something also true of the right to privacy established in 524 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: Griswold versus Connecticut, but in the Court's opinion, Roe versus 525 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:01,600 Speaker 1: Wade was different from Griswold versus Connecticut because it did 526 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 1: not involve quote, the destruction of what Row called potential life. 527 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:10,880 Speaker 1: So the majority opinion in this case noted the connection 528 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 1: to several cases we just mentioned. There was Griswald, there 529 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:18,360 Speaker 1: was Eisenstat versus Bared, which is the one that overturned 530 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:22,280 Speaker 1: the Massachusetts law barring contraception for unmarried people, and also 531 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: Oberger Fell, calling the fear that the Dobbs decision would 532 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: apply to those rulings as quote unfounded. But as we 533 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,759 Speaker 1: said at the top of the show, and his concurring opinion, 534 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:37,759 Speaker 1: Clarence Thomas wrote that future cases should reconsider rulings that 535 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: have relied on substantive due process, including Griswald, Lawrence, and 536 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 1: Oberger Fell. So that suggests otherwise, um, that is Griswold 537 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,319 Speaker 1: versus Connecticut, which, as a side of the top of 538 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,400 Speaker 1: the show, working my way through all that made it 539 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: a lot easier for me to understand what the logic 540 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: had been behind the ruling in Row versus Wade. Do 541 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: you have some listener mail, I do I have. I 542 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:08,279 Speaker 1: know there's a lot of things in this episode that 543 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 1: are tough for a lot of folks to think about. 544 00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:15,160 Speaker 1: So I chose a listener mail that is just about cats. Uh. 545 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,440 Speaker 1: This is from Jan. Jan wrote, Hi, Holly and Tracy, 546 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: writing to tell you how much I love your Steff 547 00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:23,680 Speaker 1: fumus in History podcast. I appreciate all of your research 548 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 1: into things I've never heard of before. I always learn 549 00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 1: a lot from you too, as well as Holly's podcast 550 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: Criminalio with Maria TREMARKI. Both are always excellent. I also 551 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: wanted to shamelessly pull out of old Tommy wallet with 552 00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 1: photos and brag about my kittie. Her name is Princess 553 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 1: Peach a k A. Peach or Peachy, and she has 554 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,319 Speaker 1: a weird habit. She steals single socks from either the 555 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 1: dirty clothes hampers or the clean sock bucket. I have 556 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,319 Speaker 1: brought her and her sister Rosalina many toys, but when 557 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,360 Speaker 1: we come home there's inevitably a number of single socks 558 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: she has picked up while we have been out, and 559 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: they're all sitting at the top of the stairs where 560 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,000 Speaker 1: she waits for us. She likes to carry them around, 561 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,799 Speaker 1: singing the song of her people. She either thinks their 562 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: prey or her babies. I can't decide, because sometimes she 563 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,080 Speaker 1: does that model pose where she's half laying down and 564 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: half sitting, and she'll lounge like that with her sock. 565 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,600 Speaker 1: Other times she likes to attack her sock, or drop 566 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: it from a high place and attack it. So the 567 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,560 Speaker 1: weirdest thing about the socks, though, is the fact that 568 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:21,960 Speaker 1: sometimes she likes to take them for a dip. Literally. 569 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,240 Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how many times we have thrown 570 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: a sock away because we find she has dropped it 571 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: and then abandoned it into the toilet. She also likes 572 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,359 Speaker 1: to dunk them in her water bowls. Sometimes I find 573 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,800 Speaker 1: a soggy sock on the floor and I cringe, wondering 574 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,239 Speaker 1: if it's toilet water or her drinking water, especially since 575 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,839 Speaker 1: I have four young kids who sometimes don't flush. Here 576 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,759 Speaker 1: are a few photos of Peachy. She has axema and 577 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: scratches her face to bits. She's on pills now and 578 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,920 Speaker 1: sometimes she has to wear funny collars. Thanks for letting 579 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:52,680 Speaker 1: me tell some strangers about my kitty, and thank you 580 00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: for being so great about letting adults continue to learn 581 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,600 Speaker 1: new things about history. It was always a favorite in school, 582 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,800 Speaker 1: and your work as a bomb for me. Jan Um 583 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:07,279 Speaker 1: and so uh Jan has lots of pictures of kitty cats. Um, 584 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,840 Speaker 1: and they are all incredibly adorable. One includes one of 585 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: the kitties as a teeny teeny baby kitten sitting on 586 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,480 Speaker 1: top of one of those toilet paper holders. Um. That's 587 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,799 Speaker 1: like a little like almost a little cage for the 588 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 1: toilet paper roll to sit on its side. It's incredibly cute. Um. 589 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,960 Speaker 1: One of the reasons that I wanted to read this episode, 590 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:31,560 Speaker 1: besides just the part that it's just about kitties, is 591 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:35,680 Speaker 1: that one of my cats, Opal also seems to have 592 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,880 Speaker 1: a weird fixation with the toilet. Uh, not with sacks, 593 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 1: just with the toilet. What she will do is she 594 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 1: will chase you into the bathroom when you go to 595 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 1: use the bathroom, and then when we always put the 596 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:50,279 Speaker 1: lid down so that the cats don't get into the water, 597 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: and she will jump onto the lid, and as you 598 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:56,240 Speaker 1: try to flush the toilet, she will try to attack 599 00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:03,000 Speaker 1: your hand. And I don't understand what the processes here, um, 600 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:07,120 Speaker 1: but if if she is prevented, like I sometimes will 601 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 1: just kind of hold her back a little bit because 602 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:11,279 Speaker 1: I don't I don't want her to grab my hand 603 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,520 Speaker 1: while I'm trying to flash the toilet. She will look 604 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,200 Speaker 1: with a very betrayed expression and then try to try 605 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:19,200 Speaker 1: to like grab your hand as you take it away 606 00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:22,799 Speaker 1: from the toilet handle. Um, I don't know what's up 607 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,760 Speaker 1: with that kiddie behavior. But man, all of these Princess 608 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:29,920 Speaker 1: Peach is cute. Yeah, all of these pictures are so cute. 609 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,240 Speaker 1: And there's also a little video of like the trail 610 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: of socks um across the house. Uh So, anyway, thank 611 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,960 Speaker 1: you so much Stan for all of these cat pictures 612 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,160 Speaker 1: in this cat story, like it all brightened brightened my 613 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,160 Speaker 1: day to read all of this. So if you would 614 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: like to uh send us a note about this or 615 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 1: any other podcast where History podcast that I hurt radio 616 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,720 Speaker 1: dot com. We're also all over social media at missing History. 617 00:38:56,719 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 1: That's where I'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Interest, and Instagram. 618 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe to our show on the I 619 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,720 Speaker 1: heart Radio app or wherever you like to get your podcasts. 620 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:14,200 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of 621 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 622 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:20,680 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 623 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:22,240 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.