US 1960s 30 States have contraception laws

166-End Discussion Points 1.Law prohibits dissemination of birth control literature. 2.Anthony Comstock resented women who limited the size of their families people arrested for birth control offenses 4.Madame Restell’s suicide 5.Comstock Laws 6.The idea of women wanting to indulge in intercourse while avoiding pregnancy was strange. Women are too pure to enjoy sex.

Madame Restell or Ann Lohman $20 for poor women $100 for her increasingly wealthy clientele Delivered babies Placed infants for adoption Conducted sex education classes. Comstock entrapped Lohman by posing as a husband seeking abortion services for a lady. When she provided him with some tablets, he returned and arrested her — accompanied by two reporters. She faced years in jail. Lohman climbed into her marble bathtub on the April morning her trial was to start, and slit her own throat. She was 66.

Anthony Comstock Religion: Christianity Targets prostitution and pornography by tipping off police Anti-obscenity crusade

Final Target=Contraceptives Contraceptives promote lust and lewd behavior. Be pure!

1872 Anti-Obscenity Bill Federal offense to disseminate birth control through the mail and/or across state lines

Ida Craddock Sexual counselor for married couples and developer of sex manuals A writer on the topic of human sexuality included, Heavenly Bridegrooms, Psychic Wedlock, Spiritual Joys, Letter To A Prospective Bride, The Wedding Night and Right Marital Living Anthony Comstock declares books too obscene and arrests Ida Committed suicide slashing her wrists and inhaling natural gas from the oven in her apartment, on October 16, 1902, the day before reporting to Federal prison for a five year sentence. From The Wedding Night Also, to the bride, I would say : Bear in mind that it is part of your wifely duty to perform pelvic movements during the embrace, riding your husband's organ gently, and, at times, passionately, with various movements, up and down, sideways, and with a semi- rotary movement, resembling the movement of the thread of a screw upon a screw.

Emma Goldman Russian immigrant Late 1800 anarchist Coins term “birth control” Arrested for violating Comstock Law and spends two weeks in a work house

Margaret Sanger American Birth Control League 1921 “We hold that children should be (1) Conceived in love; (2) Born of the mother's conscious desire; (3) And only begotten under conditions which render possible the heritage of health. Therefore we hold that every woman must possess the power and freedom to prevent conception except when these conditions can be satisfied.”

More about Sanger Writes Morality of Birth Control Goal: Overturn contraception restrictions. Orders diaphragm from Japan that was confiscated by the US government. Ruling: Physicians could obtain diaphragms Planned Parenthood organizer 1946

1973 Roe v. Wade

Questions Raised What are the limits of a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions? Should the unborn be afforded legal rights? What rights does the father have? In 1976 the Supreme Court held that a state could not require a married woman to get her husband’s consent before having an abortion. Is the husband’s claim of a role in an abortion decision a reinstatement of the old law of coverture (the idea that a woman had no legal existence separate from her husband)? What rights does the community have to set general policy? What are the appropriate limits of government intervention? The state may not require a woman to conceive a child: can the state require a woman to a bear a child? Will any of these rights changes as improvements are made in the technology for the discovery of birth defects and genetic abnormalities, for the implantation of the embryos, and for caring for premature infants at earlier ages?

Planned Parenthood If you are under 18, your state may require one or both of your parents to give permission for your abortion or be told of your decision prior to the abortion. In most states with these requirements: You can ask a judge to excuse you from getting permission or telling your parent or guardian. (This is called a "judicial bypass.") A legal guardian can give permission or be notified in place of a parent. If you meet legal rules showing that you are independent of the care and control of your parents or a guardian, you do not need to get their permission or notify them. In some states, you can be excused from involving a parent without going to a judge if you are the victim of abuse or neglect and you or your doctor report this to the appropriate authorities. California No parental involvement requirement. New Jersey No parental involvement requirement

Melissa Drexler