Press Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 7th, 2006

Contact: Marc Tuttle, Communications Director, (262) 796-1111, cell (262) 408-0506
or Peggy Hamill, State Director, (262) 796-1111, cell (414) 416-0489

Pro-Life Wisconsin Affiliates to Commemorate Anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut
Court decision on contraception paved way for legalized abortion

Pro-Life Wisconsinites across the state will hold prayer vigils today, followed by celebrations of the family, to mark the 41st anniversary of the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court decision. On June 7th, 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law that prohibited the sale and distribution of birth control drugs and devices, citing a so-called “right to privacy” that Chief Justice Steven Douglas claimed to find in the “penumbras, formed by emanations” of the Bill of Rights. This vague notion of privacy was cited in Roe v. Wade as justification for allowing abortion on demand.

“The Griswold decision in 1965 really paved the way for the Supreme Court to eventually de-criminalize abortion with the Roe decision in 1973,” said Peggy Hamill, state Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. “By commemorating Griswold our affiliates are drawing attention to the deadly connection between birth control and abortion. It’s the same mentality. If you’re pumping hormones into your body in a desperate attempt to avoid a so-called ‘unwanted child,’ the next logical step is to discard the ‘unwanted child’ as medical waste. Surgical abortion by and large is being used as back-up birth control. In fact, sixty percent of aborting women report that they are choosing abortion because their contraception failed,” added Hamill.

“Although the U.S. Constitution does protect people from unreasonable search and seizure and from unlawful entry into their homes, it does not contain a general right to privacy that protects any and all behavior simply because it is done in private,” said Matt Sande, Director of Legislative Affairs for Pro-Life Wisconsin. “The so-called ‘privacy right’ cited by the Douglas court is not a constitutional right; it’s a pure invention that has less to do with protecting privacy than with imposing the radical social policy of a politicized court. After all, it is the unelected justices who arbitrarily decide which ‘private’ actions are to be protected,” said Sande. “Those who are appalled by abortion and judicial tyranny will have both a moral and civic interest in exposing the fraud of Griswold.”

Griswold v. Connecticut commemorations will be held in Milwaukee, Madison, Johnson Creek, Mauston, Delavan and LaCrosse. For information about any of these events, or to schedule interviews, please contact Marc Tuttle, Communications Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, (262) 796-1111, or by cell, (262) 408-0506.

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