June 7th marked the 44th anniversary of the landmark case, Griswold v. Connecticut, which struck down a Connecticut law that banned the sale of contraceptives and made it legal for married couples (only) to use birth control. The Griswold case is credited as being an important deciding factor in several reproductive rights cases, including Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Griswold v. Connecticut involved an 1879 Connecticut law, which prohibited the use of any form of drug or instrument to prevent contraception. If you were caught doing so, you would “fined not less than forty dollars or imprisoned not less than sixty days”. Even though the statute was rarely enforced, cases had been tried questioning the constitutionally of the law. In the 1943 case of Tileston v. Ullman, a doctor and mother challenged the law on the grounds that, in some cases, denying the use of contraception could endanger the lives and well-being of patients. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, stating that the doctor didn’t have the right to sue on behalf of his patients. So, in 1961, a group of patients along with their doctor tried again in the case of Poe v. Ullman. The Supreme Court also dismissed their appeal, on the grounds that the plaintiffs hadn’t been threatened or charged with prosecution, so there wasn’t really a controversy to be resolved.

Shortly after the Poe case, Estelle Griswold, the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, a doctor and professor at Yale Medical School opened a “birth control clinic” in New Haven. They were soon arrested and fined $100 each. The Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors upheld their conviction so Griswold and Buxton appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reviewed the case in 1965.

In a 7-2 decision, written by Justice William O. Douglas, the Supreme Court found in favor of Estelle Griswold and Dr. Buxton, ruling that that the law violated the “right to marital privacy” and was unconstitutional. While the Bill of Rights doesn’t come right out and guarantee a right to privacy, Justice Douglas said the right could be found in the “penumbras” created by “emanations” in several constitutional protections. Both the Ninth Amendment, which states, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people” and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment were used to justify their ruling.

The “right to privacy” that was upheld in Griswold, was extended to unmarried couples by the Supreme Court in 1972 and they, too, were granted the right to use contraceptives in the case of Eisenstadt v. Baird. Both of these cases are cited as support in the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.

If it hadn’t been for the bravery of Estelle Griswold and Dr. Buxton, Roe v. Wade may have had a very different outcome and we, as women, might be living in a very different world right now - one where, the right to use birth control and to have an abortion could still be illegal. Thank goodness for pioneers such as these. Lets hope we can continue their work.