Birth control laws

Chapter 25: APPENDIX NO. 7 The Connecticut Law and the Amendment Proposed by the American Birth Control League

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About This Book

The author surveys American statutes that criminalize dissemination of information about controlling conception, traces their historical origin, and documents how enforcement has been sporadic and impractical. She examines the legal conflation of contraceptive instruction with obscenity and with abortion, considers federal and state reform proposals from repeal to limited modification, and reviews efforts to change laws through legislation and clinics. The book evaluates criteria for sensible public policy, outlines practical consequences for families and medical practice, and supplies appendices of sources and authorities to enable informed public judgment.

APPENDIX NO. 7
The Connecticut Law and the Amendment Proposed by the American Birth Control League

The present statute, enacted in 1878, reads as follows:

General Statutes, Section 6390. Use of Drugs or Instruments to Prevent Conception. Every person who shall use any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception shall be fined not less than $50.00 or imprisoned not less than 60 days nor more than one year or both.

The proposed bill would repeal the above section, and enact the following new section.

The giving by a physician licensed to practice or by a duly registered nurse to any person applying to him or her, of information or advice in regard to, or the supplying by such physician or nurse, or on a prescription signed legibly by him or her, of any article or medicine for the prevention of conception shall not be a violation of the statutes of this State.