ABSTRACT
In Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 US 535, the US Supreme Court laid the jurisprudential foundation for extending constitutional protection to individual liberty relating to sexual activity, holding that sterilization of convicted felons violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Skinner had been convicted of and imprisoned for committing felonies on three separate occasions: larceny once and armed robbery twice. Skinner unsuccessfully fought the constitutionality of the statute in state court. He pursued his legal battle in federal court, ultimately reaching the Supreme Court. Writing for the majority, Justice William O. Douglas concluded that Oklahoma's statute constituted invidious discrimination repugnant to the Constitution. The Supreme Court's opinion in Skinner established the doctrinal foundation for extending constitutional protection to more specific facets of individual liberty relating to sexual activity, including access to contraception and abortion. Since the right to procreate is fundamental, statutes infringing upon this liberty attract the most rigorous judicial scrutiny.
