Dbq Women's Suffrage

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Women involved in the progressive movement were also motivators for women’s suffrage and in doing so set the stage for the ground work that was needed to achieve it. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was founded in 1890. This group was a great contributor to women’s ability to eventually vote. The group argued women’s suffrage would make a positive impact. They felt women were different from men and that’s why they deserved to vote. The use of women’s moral superiority was also used in attempts to convince other’s if they were given the right to vote they could cleanse the realm of politics. With this slogan they gained a good amount of followers and made it known women’s suffrage would not be a threat, but rather an …show more content…

The Comstock Act of 1872 outlawed the sending of inappropriate material through the mail. Information involving birth control fell under such law. By the 1930’s, their was a dire need for contraception in a time where depression was at it’s height, women wanted to have control over the ability to have children. The 1936 Supreme Court case that finally increased access to birth control was called “United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries.” The case came about due to the test case by Maragret Singer who had a shipment of pessaries from Japan sent to a doctor. The Supreme Court ruled doctors in every state could legally acquire contraceptive information and devices through the mail. But there were still states that had Comstock laws in place such states were excluded. Fast-forwarding to the 1960’s women were fighting for the right to be able to control their own body. Birth control had been approved in by the FDA in 1960, but wasn’t always accessible in every state. It wasn’t until the “Griswold v. Connecticut” case of 1965 that women would be able to see the change in their rights that allowed them the use of contraceptives. Estelle Griswold was head of Planned Parenthood in Connecticut when she wanted to take her case for women’s right to contraception to court. In doing so she needed to break the law and she did, she was arrested for distributing information about birth control. Her case made it to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in her favor. The court ruled the laws that prohibited the right to access contraceptives and receive information were violating the right to privacy. Therefore, women were given the right to obtain contraceptives, with the governments

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