The pre-*Roe v. Wade* reproductive-rights movement (Comstock Act through *Roe*, 1873–1973)
From the Comstock Act of 1873 (which criminalized the mailing of “obscene” materials, including contraceptive information) through Margaret Sanger’s 1916 Brownsville clinic, Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Jane Collective in Chicago (1969–73), Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972), and Roe v. Wade (January 22, 1973), a century of legal and underground organizing built the framework of bodily-autonomy law that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization dismantled in June 2022.
Why it’s been targeted
Texas Rep. Matt Krause’s 850-book list included multiple reproductive-rights titles. Jane Against the World by Karen Blumenthal and The Handmaid’s Tale (frequently taught alongside reproductive-history units) have been removed in districts across Florida, Texas, Utah, and Tennessee per PEN America. The American Library Association’s 2022 report identified “books addressing race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health” as the explicit target of organized challenges. Iowa SF 496 (2023) restricts curricular discussion of “sex acts,” language districts have applied to reproductive-rights history.
“We must ban Pre-Roe Reproductive Rights because it informs me, the student, that there used to be a phone number.”