Abstract
Griswold v. Connecticut was the turning point in women’s access to birth control in the United States; this Independent Study aims to answer the questions what cultural change is represented by the Griswold v. Connecticut verdict? This paper tells the story prior to Griswold, the case, and the after effect. Within the period of the 1800s prior to Griswold there was available contraception information that was written by physicians and were many methods available that varied in price and availability. The Comstock Law then was put in place as a result of the social purity movement. This federal law prohibited the sales and the distribution of the contraceptive information. This resulted in limiting women from contraceptive resource and information. There were many attempts to challenge and modify the Comstock law, for a medical exemption, by women and physicians. However, all these attempts failed but forged the path for Griswold. The Griswold case did not argue for the rights of women but it argued for the right of privacy. The right of women to contraception came as indirect effect. Women were given the power over their reproductive choice that was once held by physicians then legislatures.
Advisor
Friedman, Joan
Department
History
Recommended Citation
Abdulla, Samara F., "Griswold v. Connecticut The Turning Point in Access to Contraception: A historical analysis of the legal case and the change in culture in the United States from 1873 to the late 1900s" (2017). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 11790.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/11790
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | United States History | Women's History
Keywords
Griswold v. Connecticut, birth control, contraception, Comstock Law
Publication Date
2017
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2017 Samara F. Abdulla