A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States

Women like Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett were early proponents of women's right to contraception and sex education. Though they were met with great resistance, their efforts allowed for later generations to at least discuss birth control as an option. It was not until the 1960s, however, and the introduction of the birth control pill, that women could impede pregnancy for the first time by their own choice. However, several major religious institutions opposed contraceptives and many states banned the sale of artificial contraceptives, even to married couples. It would take Supreme Court decisions to make the pill accessible to women - single and married.

Abortion was another hurdle to be overcome. While Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, and held that a woman's constitutional rights were violated by states that banned abortion, the decades since that decision have seen restrictions and limitations placed upon it, making abortions more difficult to obtain. At the same time, access to birth control is also not always readily accessible and many would like to see organizations like Planned Parenthood, which strive to offer affordable reproductive services to women, defunded.

Currently, states like Ohio are focused on abortion bans that will limit when women can seek out abortions. This indicates a trend towards greater restrictions on women's reproductive rights in the future.

Notable Supreme Court Cases:

• Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) - this case held that married couples had a constitutional "right to privacy" regarding decisions about childbearing and that a state ban on the sale of contraception was thus unconstitutional.
• Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972) - this case extended the right to contraception to unmarried individuals.
• Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) - the case that held that state bans on abortions were unconstitutional.
• Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) - this case laid out the "undue burden test," under which state regulations can survive constitutional review so long as they do not place a "substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus."
• Stenberg v. Carhart (Carhart I), 530 U.S. 914 (2000) - this case struck down a Nebraska "partial-birth abortion" law because it did not include a health exception and it posed an undue burden on women who needed second-trimester abortions as it banned the most common second-trimester method.
• Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (Carhart II), 550 U.S. 124 (2007) - this case upheld a federal ban - the "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003."

Library Resources:

• Judith A. Baer, ed., Historical and Multicultural Encyclopedia of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States, HQ766.5.U5 H57 2002
• NARAL Foundation, Who Decides? The Status of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States, KF3771.Z95 W46 2005 (Also available online)
• Mary Ziegler, After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate, HQ767.5.U5 Z54 2015