History Day - Civil Rights & Human Rights

CT was one of the first, if not the first, state to prohibit the administration of a "deadly poison, or other noxious and destructive substance, with an intention ... to cause or procure the miscarriage of any woman, then being quick with child" (1821 Statutes, Title 22, page 152) The person administering the poison (not the woman) could be imprisoned for life at Newgate, or for such other term as the court determined. --from LLR Uncommon Knowledge, D. Jernigan, December 2002

The Connecticut State Library has information on various topics, including Griswold v Connecticut. See also information on Griswold and Roraback.

These are a few examples.

Several dates missing as of 12/1/2025.

• 1879 CT law banned birth control in Connecticut
• 1923 -  Connecticut Birth Control League (CBCL) founded
• 1935 July - CBCL opened birth control clinic in Hartford, serving married women, who already had at least one child, for medical health. Over the next four years, nine clinic were established across the state.
• 1939 Waterbury clinic raided, staff arrested
• 1940 CT Supreme Court of Errors ruled law had no medical exemption. 

Connecticut

Connecticut Historical Statutes

Connecticut was one of the first, if not the first, state to prohibit the administration of a "deadly poison, or other noxious and destructive substance, with an intention ... to cause or procure the miscarriage of any woman, then being quick with child" (1821 Statutes, Title 22, page 152) The person administering the poison (not the woman) could be imprisoned for life at Newgate, or for such other term as the court determined. --from LLR Uncommon Knowledge, D. Jernigan, December 2002

Much earlier laws (ca. 1702) related to the concealment of the birth and/or death of a bastard child are found in the CT statute compilations under "Bastardy" or "Crimes."--from LLR Uncommon Knowledge, D. Jernigan, December 2002

Articles

• "Abortion: Litigative and Legislative Processes" by Roy Lucas, Richard D. Lamm, Lorraine Beebe, Cecil Poole and Dexter L. Handley. Human Rights. Vol. 1, No. 2 (July 1971), pp. 23-53 (31 pages). JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/stable/27878934 states 1821 CT Public Act was first U.S. abortion statute (on pages 33-34). Article also covers brief history of abortion and laws - going back to a Chinese recipe going back to 27th century B.C. England passed a law against abortion in 1803. 1860s saw laws against abortion before quickening. (p.36)
• "Abortion: Reform and the Law" Author(s): Loren G. Stern. Source: The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science , Mar., 1968, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Mar., 1968), pp. 84-95 Published by: Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1142153  mentions the 1821 law, with life imprisonment as punishment.

Federal

These are a few examples.

November 1, 1961, Estelle Griswold and Dr. C. Lee Buxton opened a birth control clinic in New Haven.

1965 - case reached U.S. Supreme Court. June 7th, 1965 decision said Connecticut law violated constitutional right to marital privacy.