Plunderbund

I meant to write about this earlier today (Friday) but my one hour flight turned into a twelve hour ordeal (thanks Delta!) so I just walked in the door and I’m a few hours late for the ‘happy birthday birth control’ post.

Anyway-

On May 9th, 1960 the FDA officially approved “the pill” for use as a contraceptive.

It’s something we kind of take for granted now but at the time it was a HUGE deal. The pill offered women greater reproductive freedom while providing social conservatives something else to fear and vilify.

It’s crazy to think that, initially, the pill was only available to MARRIED WOMEN and only in certain places.

At the time some states had laws banning the use of all contraceptives and it took a Supreme Court decision (Griswold v. Connecticut) in 1965 to change that- just for married women, of course.

It wasn’t until 1972 that the pill became available to all women- again thanks to a Supreme Court decision (Eisenstadt v. Baird).

Thank God we had Supreme Court Justices back then capable of understanding the importance of reproductive rights.

Justices who understood that our government should stay out of our bedrooms.

Justices strong enough to rule, against intense political pressure, that outdated and misplaced religious beliefs CAN NOT be used to deprive Americans our constitutional rights.

Please keep this in mind when you hear John McCain talk about his promise to appoint Justices who will do the exact opposite.