Eisenstadt v. Baird

This Supreme Court case, argued in November 1971 and decided in March 1972, declared unconstitutional a Massachusetts statute that imposed a five-year jail term for distributing contraceptives unless by a licensed physician or pharmacist, or distributing contraceptives to unmarried persons. The decision removed the institutionalization of punitive premarital sex standards, allowing unmarried, consenting adults to engage in sexual conduct for reasons other than procreation. With Griswold v. Connecticut before it and Roe v. Wade after it, the court accepted a zone of privacy recognized in ...