Griswold V. Connecticut Case Analysis

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The Court first recognized the existence of a right to sexual privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Supreme Court ruled that the ban on contraceptives violated the right to privacy in marriage. The case was based on Connecticut law which criminalized the use of birth control. The 1879 law stated that "any person who uses any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purposes of preventing conception shall be fined not less than forty dollars or imprisoned not less than sixty days." The law continued to say that "any person who assists, abets, counsels, causes, hires or commands another to commit any offense may be prosecuted and punished as if he were the principal offender. (McBride)” The ruling recognized that the Constitution does not explicitly protect one's general right to privacy; however, the Bill of Rights created explicit zones of privacy. …show more content…
Baird (1972), and that the state could not ban most abortions in Roe v. Wade (1973). “[Griswold] expressly disclaimed any reliance on the doctrine of "substantive due process," and grounded the so-called "right to privacy" in penumbras of constitutional provisions other than the Due Process Clause. (qtd. in Chandler)” The Court identified the right to privacy in Griswold, and used the Equal Protection Clause to Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972),which extended the right to contraceptive privacy to unmarried