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Comstock Laws
The Comstock Law of 1873 was a federal law that made it a crime to sell or distribute materials that could be used for contraception or Abortion, to send such materials or information about such materials through the federal mail system, or to import such materials from abroad. It was motivated by growing societal concerns over Obscenity, abortion, pre-marital and extra-marital sex, the institution of marriage, the changing role of women in society, and increased procreation by the lower classe -
Margaret Sanger opens first Birth Control Clinic in US
Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood. Sanger's efforts contributed to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case which legalized contraception in the United States. Sanger is a frequent target of criticism by opponents of the legalization of abortion, based primarily upon her racial views and support of eugenics, but she remains an iconic figure for the American reproductive rights movement. -
Poe v. Ullman
In Poe v. Ullman, two married women needed medical advice on the use of contraceptive devices for the protection of their health, but a physician was deterred from giving such advice because the State's Attorney would prosecute him. Since no one was actually charged, just threatened, the court dismissed the case. In his dissent in Poe v. Ullman, Justice Harlan wrote that -
Griswold v. Connecticut
The Court struck down a state law prohibiting the possession, sale, and distribution of contraceptives to married couples. The US Supreme Court ruled that there exists a Right to Privacy, despite no explicit mention in the Bill of Rights. This case sturck down one of the remaining contraception laws, (Comstock Laws) which made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" materials through the mail, including contraceptive devices and information on abortion for educational purposes. -
National Organization for Women Founded
The six core issues that NOW addresses are abortion rights/reproductive issues, violence against women, constitutional equality, promoting diversity/ending racism, lesbian rights, and economic justice. We.... believe that the time has come for a new movement toward true equality for all women in America, and toward a fully equal partnership of the sexes, as part of the world-wide revolution of human rights now taking place within and beyond our national borders. -
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. Decided simultaneously with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting women's health. Arguing that these s -
Colorado Consent to Abortion Act, Amendment 25
Governor John A. Love of Colorado signs the first liberalized abortion law (based upon a model created by the American Law Institute) in the United States, allowing abortion in cases of permanent mental or physical disability of either the child or mother or in cases of rape or incest. This amended Colorado law on abortion has been on the books for over 100 years. Similar laws will soon be passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. This day Colorado consents to this law. -
Gonzales v. Carhart
Carhart, a doctor who performs late term abortions, sued the Attorney General for an injunction against the enforcement of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The law had an exception that allowed late term abortions when the woman’s life, but not health, was in danger. Question: Whether, notwithstanding Congress's determination that a health exception was unnecessary to preserve the health of the mother, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is invalid because it lacks a health exc -
Abortion Doctor Killed
George Tiller, one of only a few doctors in the nation who performed abortions late in pregnancy, was shot to death here Sunday in the foyer of his longtime church as he handed out the church bulletin.A provider of abortions for more than three decades, Dr. Tiller, 67, had become a focal point for those around the country who opposed it. In addition to protests outside his clinic, his house and his church, Dr. Tiller had once seen his clinic bombed; in 1993, an prolifer shot him in both arms. -
Arizona Hospital Loses Catholic Status over Abortion
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix stripped a major hospital of its affiliation with the church Tuesday because of a surgery that ended a woman's pregnancy to save her life. Bishop Thomas Olmsted called the 2009 procedure an abortion and said St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center – recognized internationally for its neurology and neurosurgery practices – violated ethical and religious directives of the national Conference of Catholic Bishops -
Catholic Church Likens Obama to Satan/Hitler
Daniel R. Jenky, Bishop of a Catholic Church told a reported 500 men that President Obama is following in the footsteps of Adolph Hitler, and urged them to wage war on the federal government to defend their religion. Bishop Jenky spoke vehemently about the Obama administration’s HHS mandate ensuring all women have access to contraception services.“Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the instrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb,”
