From Comstock Act to Roe v. Wade: A Right to Privacy Is Born

Connecticut's 1879 Comstock Act prohibited the prescription, sale or use of birth control devices. It stayed on the books until 1965 when Planned Parenthood of Connecticut successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that the Comstock Act violated a constitutional right to privacy in "marital matters," even though privacy wasn't one of the expressly stated rights in the Constitution. The ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut prohibited the states from violating a citizen's right to privacy. Today, anti-abortion forces are trying to invalidate the Supreme Court Comstock Act ruling after the 2022 Dobb v. Jackson decision by the Court that overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion. This excerpt from "Crusaders & Criminals" (CPTV, 1990) tells the story of the crusaders behind the Griswold case and how it led to the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.