An old Connecticut law prohibited the use of contraceptive devices and the giving of medical advice in the use of those devices. The law also applied to married couples. The Connecticut Attorney General threatened to enforce the law against three individuals in this case including Jane Doe (Doe v. Pullman). Mrs. Doe, having recovered from a tough pregnancy which threatened her life and left her with several emotional and physical disabilities, was informed by her physician that any additional pregnancies could be fatal. She challenged the Connecticut law since it criminalized her use of contraceptives.
Did the Connecticut law violate liberty protected by due process of the Fourteenth Amendment?
The Court chose to dismiss the case because it involved the threatened and not actual application of the Connecticut law. Since the statute had been on the state's books for over three-quarters of a century without ever having been enforced, the Court found no sense of "immediacy which is an indispensable condition of constitutional adjudication."
Decisions
Decision: 5 votes for Ullman, 4 vote(s) against Legal provision:
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Judgment of the Court by Justice Felix Frankfurter
