The Issue
Birth control is a matter of privacy. But did you know that some politicians want to take away our right to it?
Our right to birth control depends on the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court decision from 1965. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a state's ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy. The Court extended this right to unmarried couples in 1972 in Eisenstadt v. Baird.
Before these Supreme Court rulings, states and the federal government were free to ban or limit access to contraception, and they did.
Today, there's still no federal law protecting the right to birth control. All it would take to overturn this right is one Supreme Court decision.
Proposed legislation at all levels of government, potential court decisions, and rhetoric from policymakers all point to the same conclusion: the right to contraception is the next target for opponents of reproductive freedom.
Americans are closer than they realize to potentially losing their right to birth control like IUDs and the pill. See our FAQ for more information.