Tapping the Scales of Justice - A Dose of Connecticut Legal History
In 1961, Estelle Griswold and C. Lee Buxton, directors of a Planned
Parenthood Center, operated a clinic in New Haven to provide contraceptive
counseling and materials to married couples. They were arrested, as
accessories, for violating a state statute which made it a crime to use
devices or materials to prevent conception. After a trial, they were found
guilty as charged.
On appeal, both the Appellate Division of the Circuit
Court and the Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the judgments of
conviction. The Connecticut Supreme Court concluded that the conviction of
Griswold and Buxton was not an invasion of constitutional rights. Griswold
and Buxton then took their case to the United States Supreme Court.
In 1965, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in
Griswold v. Connecticut, ruling that a married couple has a right of privacy
that cannot be infringed upon by a state law making it a crime to use
contraceptives. While the right of privacy is not specifically guaranteed by
the Constitution, the Griswold Court reasoned that it emanates from certain
guarantees in the Bill of Rights. Griswold then paved the way for the
Supreme Court's historic ruling in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade. In
Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court went on to hold that the right of privacy
encompasses a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.
Griswold v. Connecticut served as an important precedent in the Roe v. Wade
decision.
See: State v. Griswold, 151 Conn. 544 (1964)
and Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
Doses of Connecticut Legal History