Griswold V. Connecticut Case Study

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The Griswold v. Connecticut case involved a challenge to the constitutionality of an 1879 Connecticut law prohibiting the dissemination of information about and/or the sale of contraceptives. Connecticut provided a law that prohibited the use of drug or any instrument for the purpose of preventing conception and should be punished with imprisonment and a fine. Estelle Griswold believed that it would be best to give couples information, medical advice and counseling in to preventing unwanted pregnancies and avoid an abortion. Being the executive director of Planned Parenthood, Griswold decided to take action and give contraception advice to married couples and later found guilty and arrested for providing illegal contraceptives. Due to these …show more content…
After only having the clinic opened for ten days, Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton were found guilty and arrested with a fine of $100 each. Estelle Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton had a strong enough case to be heard in the U.S. supreme court, their representative argued in front of the chief justice and associate justices that a state cannot pass a law that forbids all people to use contraceptives and it is forbidden to do so by due process in the first amendment, he also argued that the law was ever brought because it applies to married couples in to women’s whose lives may be at risk if they become pregnant on the other hand the state of Connecticut representative argued that married couples practice birth control because it still available in Connecticut. He also argued that the state did have the right to pass a law and their only intention was to reduce the chances of immorality and prevent intercourse outside of marriage. As a result of the case in the ruling, the state of Connecticut’s argument was not strong enough to persuade the non-associate justices, they agreed that the constitution does protect the right to married couples, the bill of rights state individual laws but when they are together they create a right to privacy against government invasion of citizen rights. For the final decision, 7-2 decided in favor of Griswold. The state passed the law and only married couples were able to purchase contraceptives but not unmarried

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