CARTER Full Digital Humanities Project

Griswold v Connecticut impact on Roe v. Wade

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Historiography
3. Gendered Protest
4. Impact
5. Conclusion

Introduction:

Currently in the United States of America, women’s reproductive rights are under constant threat.  On June 24, 2022, an overwhelmingly conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade after almost 50 years of being the law of the land [1].  Roe v. Wade granted women the right to an abortion under the fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution [2]. This restriction on women’s bodily autonomy has resulted in many states passing strict abortion bans with little to no restrictions. These laws have and will continue to put women’s lives at risk if not changes.

Living in a post-Roe nation, it is more important than ever to examine how individuals fought to gain access to bodily autonomy.  For years, many feminists advocated both through social and political, like that of Estelle T. Griswold. This narrative will explore the landmark case Griswold v. Connecticut served as a form of protest in turn, expanding reproductive health care and laid the precedent for Roe v. Wade.

[3][4][5][6]

 Histography:

There have been articles written on how Griswold v. Connecticut laid precedent for Roe v. Wade and how different components of social ideation influenced public opinion on abortion.

David Bollier is and author and activist who wrote “Crusaders and Criminals, Victims & Visionaries Historic Encounter between Connecticut Citizens and the United States Supreme Court”.  This document outlines specific Supreme Court cases that have impacted Connecticut, bus also American citizens.  It highlights how one case can alter public perception and change generations’ point of view on social issues.  This article details the layered aspects of Griswold v. Connecticut: the laws at the time, the key players, and public ideation. [7]

Gendered Protest: Griswold v. Connecticut:

https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/ppgsed24/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=h5p_embed&id=41

[4] [5] [6]

In 1961, Estelle T. Griswold, in an act of protest of the Comstock law began “dispensing contraceptives to married couples.”[8]. This law in particular, prevented women form being ale to receive birth control.  This made it difficult for women to be able to plan their families.  Although illegal, many affluent women were able to get the birth control pill from private doctors.  This discriminated against “Uneducated and impoverished women, in particular, (who) often did not know how to obtain birth control” [9].

On July 7, 1965, the Supreme court ruled in favor of Griswold and in turn, “struck down Connecticut’s 86-year-old Comstock law. By a vote of 7 to 2” [10]. After appealing her case to the Supreme Court, they “applied the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to incorporate Bill of Rights protections to the states.” [11] (Bill of Rights Institute). This helped pave the way for protection of women’s reproductive health by establishing “privacy right of married couples” [12]. This case was specifically used as precedent in Roe v Wade .

Estelle T. Griswold’s brave act of protest was specifically a gendered issue.  Not only did she hold a position of power in Planned Parenthood, but she also actively broke the law in efforts to support women’s reproductive health care.  Griswold beveled that the country suffered from “perils of overpopulation – and convinced her that better family planning was the answer” [13]. She was able to open a clinic and help countless women and families.  Her impact is being remembered as the person who “inaugurated a new body of constitutional law protecting individual privacy” [14].

[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

Impact:

After Griswold v. Connecticut, the precedent of right to privacy under the 14th amendment, it was used as precedent in the following cases:

Eisenstadt v. Baird:

In 1972, the Supreme court ruled in favor of William Braid, who gave contraceptives to a nineteen year old, unmarried women. At the time, this violated Massachusetts law.  He was charged with “two crimes, one for showing the contraceptives, and a second for distributing them.” [23].  Braid argued that only allowing married individuals to have access to contraception was discriminatory.  This case built off of Griswold v. Connecticut, once again naming the due process clause in the 14th amendment.  This case further expanded reproductive rights for unmarried women, given more precedent to Roe v. Wade.

Roe v Wade:

In 1970, a single Texas pregnant women, Jane Roe, sued the Texas attorney general believing that the “Texas criminal abortion statutes were unconstitutional on their face” [12]. Texas, at the time, only allowed abortions if the life of the mother was at risk.  On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court decided that “A person may choose to have an abortion until a fetus becomes viable, based on the right to privacy contained in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” [24].

Conclusion:

It was women like Estelle T. Griswold who fought for reproductive rights, that paved the way for Roe v. Wade.  At the time, even speaking about contraception though a public agency was illegal, and she knew it wasn’t right.  Her act of protest of giving access to essential health care to married couples not only helped many families, but also eventually led to the right to privacy which in turn, laid precedent for Roe.

Citations:

1. Williams & Georgian. “Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Doing Away with Half-Century of Precedent.” NBCNews.com, June 25, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-wipes-away-constitutional-guarantee-abortion-rights-over-rcna18718.
2. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
3. Ross, Nathaniel. “Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972).” Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) | Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/eisenstadt-v-baird-1972.
4. Bollier, David. Crusaders and Criminals, Victims & Visionaries Historic Encounter between Connecticut Citizens and the United States Supreme Court. Office of the Attorney General, 1986.
5. Bill of Rights Institute. “Griswold v. Connecticut (1965).” Bill of Rights Institute. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://billofrightsinstitute.org/e-lessons/griswold-v-connecticut-1965.
6. Bollier, David. Crusaders and Criminals, Victims & Visionaries Historic Encounter between Connecticut Citizens and the United States Supreme Court. Office of the Attorney General, 1986.
7. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
8. Connecticut Judicial Branch. “The Right to Privacy.” Law Library Services – CT Judicial Branch. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/history/privacy.htm#:~:text=Griswold%20then%20paved%20the%20way,not%20to%20terminate%20her%20pregnancy.
9. Bollier, David. Crusaders and Criminals, Victims & Visionaries Historic Encounter between Connecticut Citizens and the United States Supreme Court. Office of the Attorney General, 1986.
10. Ibid
11. Ibid
12. Ibid
13. Bill of Rights Institute. “Griswold v. Connecticut (1965).” Bill of Rights Institute. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://billofrightsinstitute.org/e-lessons/griswold-v-connecticut-1965.
14. Bollier, David. Crusaders and Criminals, Victims & Visionaries Historic Encounter between Connecticut Citizens and the United States Supreme Court. Office of the Attorney General, 1986.
15. Ibid
16. Xing, Enze, Rieham Owda, Charisse Loder, and Kathleen Collins. “Abortion Rights Are Health Care Rights.” JCI insight, June 8, 2023. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10393219/.
17. Ibid
18. Bill of Rights Institute. “Griswold v. Connecticut (1965).” Bill of Rights Institute. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://billofrightsinstitute.org/e-lessons/griswold-v-connecticut-1965.
19. Johnson, Sydney. “The San Franciscans Who Pioneered Safe and Legal Abortions.” San Francisco Examiner, October 27, 2022. https://www.sfexaminer.com/archives/the-san-franciscans-who-pioneered-safe-and-legal-abortions/article_4aed5427-93f5-5fef-b396-24579e575c42.html.
20. Dukakis, Andrea. “50 Years Ago, Colorado Passed Nation’s First State Law Liberalizing Abortion.” Colorado Public Radio, April 28, 2017. https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/50-years-ago-colorado-passed-nations-first-state-law-liberalizing-abortion/.
21. Kennedy, Lesley. “Reproductive Rights in the US: Timeline.” History.com. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://www.history.com/news/reproductive-rights-timeline.
22. Ross, Nathaniel. “Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972).” Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) | Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/eisenstadt-v-baird-1972.
23. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
24. Bollier, David. Crusaders and Criminals, Victims & Visionaries Historic Encounter between Connecticut Citizens and the United States Supreme Court. Office of the Attorney General, 1986.
25. Ibid
26. Ross, Nathaniel. “Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972).” Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) | Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Accessed December 10, 2024. https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/eisenstadt-v-baird-1972.
27. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
28. Ibid