<P> In 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that it was unconstitutional for the government to prohibit married couples from using birth control . </P> <P> Also in 1965, 26 states prohibited birth control for unmarried women . In 1967 Boston University students petitioned Bill Baird to challenge Massachusetts's stringent "Crimes Against Chastity, Decency, Morality and Good Order" law . On April 6, 1967 he gave a speech to 1,500 students and others at Boston University on abortion and birth control . He gave a female student one condom and a package of contraceptive foam . Baird was arrested and convicted as a felon, facing up to ten years in jail . He spent three months in Boston's Charles Street Jail . During his challenge to the Massachusetts law, the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts stated that "there is nothing to be gained by court action of this kind . The only way to remove the limitations remaining in the law is through the legislative process ." Despite this opposition, Baird fought for five years until Eisenstadt v. Baird legalized birth control for all Americans on March 22, 1972 . Eisenstadt v. Baird, a landmark right to privacy decision, became the foundation for such cases as Roe v. Wade and the 2003 gay rights victory Lawrence v. Texas . </P> <P> In 1970, Congress removed references to contraception from federal anti-obscenity laws; and in 1973, the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy . </P> <P> Also in 1970, Title X of the Public Health Service Act was enacted as part of the war on poverty, to make family planning and preventive health services available to low - income and the uninsured . Without publicly funded family planning services, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the United States would be nearly two - thirds higher; the number of unintended pregnancies among poor women would nearly double . According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, publicly funded family planning saves nearly $4 in Medicaid expenses for every $1 spent on services . </P>

A brief history of birth control in the us