The landmark Griswold v. Connecticut case of 1965 invalidated Connecticut's Comstock act, which made it a crime to use "any drug, medicinal article, or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception." Anyone who violated the could be "fined not less than fifty dollars or imprisoned not less than sixty days nor more than one year or be both fined and imprisoned."
In overturning the law, Justice William O. Douglas wrote, "Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contraceptives? The very idea is repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship."
It's not repulsive to the deeply corrupt Justice Clarence Thomas. When he wrote his concurring opinion in the Roe decision reversal, he made it clear that after the Republicans succeeded in a nationwide ban on abortions, they would be free to outlaw birth control as well. Justices "should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," he wrote, referring to cases that asserted U.S. citizens's freedom and privacy rights.
This new advertisement from the Progress Action Fund depicts a world in which Republicans have gotten their wish and all forms of birth control, including condoms, are banned. The video begins with a man and woman in bed, engaged in steamy foreplay. The woman asks the man if he has a condom, and as he opens his bedside table drawer to retrieve one, another hand grabs the condom.
"Sorry, you can't use those," says an elderly white man in a suit and tie sitting in a chair next to the bed. The man and the woman scream in shock and cover themselves with a blanket.
"What are you talking about? Who are you?" asks the woman.
"I'm your Republican Congressman," says the old man. "Now that we're in charge, we're banning birth control."
Echoing Justice William O. Douglas' opinion from 1965, the woman says, "This is our decision, not yours. Get out of our bedroom!"
"I won the last election. I'm not going anywhere," says the Republican Congressman. "I'm just gonna watch. And make sure you don't do anything illegal."
As reported in The Hill:
The ad is set to air on connected TVs, online platforms and streaming services in the Buckeye State, according to the super PAC.
The ad comes as the state is set to hold an Aug. 8 special election over a proposed constitutional amendment. If passed, it would require at least 60 percent of Ohioans to pass amendments to the state's constitution instead of a simple majority.
The proposed constitutional amendment, which has generated bipartisan criticism, does not say anything about abortion or reproductive rights, but it comes ahead of a potential abortion ballot measure in November, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution.
