U.S. v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries

BACKGROUND: In 1873 Congress passed a law that made it illegal to import or mail contraceptives or information about contraception. Called the Comstock law after its primary proponent Anthony Comstock, similar laws were passed at the state level that, in some cases, also made it illegal to use contraception. By the end of the 19th century, it was difficult to find information about contraception in major medical textbooks or anywhere in the U.S.

During the 1930's the National Committee for Federal Legislation, headed by Margaret Sanger, lobbied Congress to revise the Comstock law, but Congress was unmoved.

THE CASE: U.S. v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries came about when Margaret Sanger ordered a new type of diaphragm (pessary) designed by a Japanese physician. She had a large number shipped from Tokyo to the U.S, where the shipment was seized and confiscated under Section 305 of the Tariff Act, an outgrowth of the Comstock law.

In January, 1936 a lower court ruled against the government. The government appealed, and later that year a three-judge panel upheld the lower court ruling. Judge Augustus Hand stated that if Congress of the 1870's had possessed the same clinical data on the dangers of pregnancy and the usefulness of contraception that were available in the 1930's, it would never have classified birth control as obscene.

IMPACT: The One Package decision applied only to contraceptive devices imported by licensed physicians and was limited to those states within the appellate court's jurisdiction.

However, in its decision the court had acknowledged that birth control had both medical and socio-economic significance, both of which had impact. The following year, the American Medical Association recognized contraception as a legitimate medical service and recommended its inclusion in medical school curricula. Also that year, the state of North Carolina became the first to permit family planning services to be offered as part of its public health program.

SOURCES:

A Tradition of Choice: Planned Parenthood at 75. Copyright 1991, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.

Lader, Lawrence, "On the Issues," Vol. XIV, pp 10-35, 1990.

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