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The Most Restrictive States

New England residents lived under the most restrictive laws in the country.

In Massachusetts, anyone seilling or giving information about birth control faced stiff fines and imprisonment.

The most restrictive state was Connecticut- Married couples could be arrested for using birth control in the privacy of their own bedrooms, and subjected to a one-year prison sentence.

In actuality, law enforcement agents often looked the other way when it came to anti-birth control laws, but the statutes remained on the books.

Margaret Sanger

Birth Control as Crime

She challenged the Comstock Laws

The first successful change in the laws came from Sanger's 1916 arrest for opening the first birth control clinic in America.

The case that grew out of her arrest resulted in the 1918 Crane decision, which allowed women to use birth control for therapeutic purposes.

In 1872 Comstock drafted an anti-obscenity bill that included the use of birth control.

On March 3, 1873, Congress passed the new law, later known as the Comstock Act.

The statute defined contraceptives as obscene and illicit, making it a federal offense to disseminate birth control through the mail or across state lines.

The public did not pay much attention to it.

Introduction

As late as 1960, there were laws in the United States

that prohibited the sale or promotion of birth control.

These laws reflected an underlying American belief that birth control was "lewd, immoral, and promoted promiscuity."

Comstock's Crusade

Changing Laws

Anthony Comstock believed that the availability of contraceptives promoted sexual promiscuity.

Offended by explicit advertisements for birth control devices, he soon identified the contraceptive industry as one of his targets.

1936 - U.S. vs. One Package - made it possible for doctors to distribute birth control across state lines

Physicians could now legally mail birth control devices and information throughout the country, paving the way for the legitimization of birth control by the medical industry and the general public.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_comstock.html

Comstock Laws

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