Kill the pill

Those who claim that abortion opponents have a much larger agenda than just abortion—that they seek to outlaw birth control as well—are often considered paranoid (“The battle for birth control,” RN&R, Nov. 2, 2006). As it happens, though, anti-abortionists are planning a national “Protest the Pill 08” day on June 7.

The American Life League is calling for activists to “gather outside any facility that distributes the birth control pill.” The League provides “THE PILL KILLS” T-shirts and placards for the occasion from its “Pro-life Store.”

If you’re wondering why June 7, it’s because that’s the day in 1965 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects personal privacy, a ruling that evangelicals have opposed ever since. At issue in that case, Griswold v. Connecticut, was whether government had the authority to forbid use of birth control. The court ruled, 7-2, that it did not. “This was the first of many decisions that led to the culture of death we live in today,” according to the League. “This meant that Connecticut and the rest of the United States could not stop a married woman from obtaining birth control pills.”