Birth Control Still Under Fire, 40 Years After Landmark Griswold Case
Women’s health and rights threatened by anti-birth control legislators
Madison, WI –Today is the 40th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut, which guaranteed married couples’ right to birth control, and recognized the right of privacy inherent in our Constitution.
The case paved the way for advances in women’s equality and health – birth control is one of the most widely used medical options, and its availability has allowed women to achieve unprecedented independence and equality.
Yet, anti-birth control forces in the Wisconsin legislature are trying to limit contraceptive availability and information, introducing numerous bills that violate patients’ constitutional right to access birth control and endanger women’s health. The proposals fall into several general categories, which seek to
• Allow health care providers to ignore their ethical obligations to patients, for instance by refusing to fill a birth control prescription or give a patient accurate information about her medical options;
• De-fund cost-effective family planning and reproductive health care programs that save taxpayers money and provide crucial support to women and families;
• Limit young people’s access to birth control and comprehensive, medically accurate sex education.
Detailed legislative tracking is available at www.prochoicewisconsin.org, under “Political Updates.”
“NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin believes in a culture of freedom and personal responsibility, and birth control is a crucial component of both,” said Kelda Helen Roys, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. “Our leaders should be empowering women to make healthy, responsible decisions about family planning and health care – not taking away basic preventative health care.”
“If we are serious about supporting healthy families, preventing unintended pregnancy, and reducing the need for abortion, then we have to find common ground around birth control and accurate sex education. Ensuring access to birth control is just common sense – and it’s a constitutional right,” said Roys, who is also an attorney. “The government shouldn’t interfere in our personal lives and limit patients’ health care options.”
Birth control is basic health care for women: over 95 percent of American women use contraception at some point in their lives, without which they would average 12-15 pregnancies. Unplanned pregnancies carry significant and long-lasting adverse consequences for parents and children, from increased infant mortality to limited economic and academic potential. Access to birth control is also key to reducing the need for abortion.
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