Thread by @RewireNewsGroup

Today’s the anniversary of the Supreme Court guaranteeing the right to use birth control—but only for married couples.

Here’s a closer look at the 1965 landmark ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut.

THREAD:

At the time, Connecticut banned the use of contraceptives. So when Estelle Griswold, the head of Planned Parenthood in Connecticut, opened a birth control clinic with the help of a Yale med school doctor, they were arrested and convicted of violating the law.

But this was their plan all along!

You see, they wanted to use the clinic to challenge the draconian law under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution by arguing that banning birth control violated the privacy rights of married couples.

The Supreme Court agreed, ruling 7-2 that a law banning contraceptives violated the privacy rights of married couples.

Basically, the Court said that while a right to privacy isn’t explicit in the Constitution, it can be inferred from the protections in the Bill of Rights.

But that was only the beginning. It wasn’t until 1972 in Eisenstadt v. Baird that the Supreme Court ruled that unmarried people also had a right to birth control.

It’s now 2021 and the fight for comprehensive access to contraceptives continues.

The Constitution’s right to privacy is a key part of protecting your sexual privacy and autonomy.

By establishing that right in case law, Griswold helped pave the way for abortion rights in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

So when conservatives target abortion rights under Roe and Casey, they’re *also* targeting privacy rights. And that includes your right to use birth control if you want.

That’s why @Hegemommy and @AngryBlackLady are always talking about how conservative attacks won’t stop with abortion. The anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut is a good time to remember that conservatives are coming for your birth control too.
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