Social Flashcards
Comstock laws
1873
The statute determined contraceptives as ‘obscene’ and ‘illicit’, and made it a federal offence to use/provide insight on contraceptives
contraceptives were sold ‘under the counter’ at extortionate prices
1931-14% of procedures resulted in maternal deaths
in 1938, the Comstock Laws were ended and the federal ban on birth control was lifted
many states still had individual laws which limited/prohibited access to birth control.
what was the Cult of Domesticity
the idea that women should remain principally in the home. it was a societal norm irrespective of class and ethnicity. it has huge longevity until Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique which challenged it hugely.
Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act
1921
provided federal funding to enhance the health and welfare of women and children.
healthcare and education
Lower classes
distribute information on hygiene and nutrition,
provided training in the midwifery sector of healthcare,
rapidly grew the nurse visits for new mothers and pregnant women
set up health clinics for infants and women where some nurses and physicians could care for and educate those who visited.
however, funding was stopped in 1929 as the act was repealed
1930s
lifting of comstock laws-1938
Us v One package 1936
Lifting of comstock laws
1938
federal ban of birth control ended
many states still had individual laws which limited/prohibited access to birth control.
state funded birth control for the poor
1964
Johnson
Griswold v. Connecticut
1965
established the constitutional rights for married couples to use contraception
no state is allowed to interfere in whether you use contraception as it would go against the right to privacy.
Jane
Group to help women find safe abortions
founded in 1969
perfromed 12k themselves between 1969 and 1973
Women opposing contraceptive pill
feminists found the pill to be another source of patriarchal authority after 1970 senate hearings revealed the health risks which were associated with the pill. women’s disillusionment with the pill fed into the feminist critique of American society (for example, why is contraception the woman’s job?)
Eisenstadt v Baird
1972
legalised use of birth control for all women
1965- 5m using birth control
1992- doubled to 10m
Roe v Wade
1973
declared that abortion was a right-to-privacy issue
less women die as it is made a safer procedure.
Roe v Wade opposition
Conservative organisations such as Eagle Forum led by Phyllis Schlafly
Some opposition was very violent
For example on Christmas day in 1984, three abortion clinics were bombed,
Planned Parenthood v Casey
1992
Betty Friedan
“I want something more than my husband and my children and my home”.
She started the National Organisation for Women (NOW). promoted that women needed to ‘get out and get equality’. wanted complete social and economic equality, not just political.
NOW
founded in 1966 by betty Friedan
The rights to have abortions and ‘the right of women to control their own reproductive lives’
