ABSTRACT
Government regulation of birth control has created a tension between the civil liberties of the individual and the power of the state to regulate quality of medical services. Known popularly as the Comstock Act, this law made it a criminal offense to send birth control information or contraceptives through the US mail or to engage in the selling of contraceptives through interstate commerce. By the 1930s, contraception was frequently used by the middle classes and was generally legal, but its purpose was to prevent the birth of children that families could not afford. To many people, the right to privacy has been connected to the issue of abortion; this right is based upon earlier decisions related to contraception and sterilization. The "morning-after pill" is designed to prevent contraception if it is taken within twenty-four hours after unprotected sex; initially challenged by antiabortion activists, by 2003 this medication was legal and widely available in the United States, although only by prescription.
