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The Legalization Of Birth Control

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Griswold vs. Connecticut The legalization of Birth Control Ashley Barreras August 10, 2015 Political Science Imagine living in a world where birth control did not exist or was considered illegal to all women. This is the reality that women from our history dealt with for many years. Until the year 1965 birth control was banned for women living in the state of Connecticut. Whether married or unmarried the simple right of contraception, or asking a pharmacist about preventing pregnancy was illegal. This law prohibiting the practice of contraception was changed with the help of birth control activist such as Estelle Griswold. Griswold appealed the law in the popularly known case of Griswold vs. Connecticut. Her claim for legalized birth control helped changed the future for women living in the state of Connecticut. The revised law gave married women the freedom and privacy to take charge of their bodies and prevent unwanted pregnancies with the practice of birth control. Birth control was illegal in the state of Connecticut until the 1960s. The reasoning behind prohibiting any form of contraception was influenced by Protestant moral reformers as well as middle class women from the1870s. The leader of the purity movement was Anthony Comstock who was a Postal Inspector and responsible for most of the anti contraception laws. Together he worked with other activist and created a social purity movement that assisted to outlaw the ideas of contraception. These activist

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