1936

In United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, U.S. Court of appeals held “that medical prescription of contraceptives for the purpose of saving a life or promoting the well-being of women was not condemned under the Comstock Act. The decision had tremendous ramifications for the establishment of birth control services throughout the country.” Opposition to birth control clinics came from health/welfare officers who viewed it as governmental intrusion into medical practice; as immoral; as tampering with God’s work; some physicians saw it as endangering private medical practice. Institutional opposition came from the Children’s Bureau, which refused to fund dissemination of birth control advice until the 1950s. “Other states were threatened with the withdrawal of federal funds if they established state-supported birth control programs. . . . Clinic personnel complained about the stifling effect that opposition from Catholic agencies had on private and state-supported birth control clinics” a (Schoen, 32=33).