Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade, Updated [Paperback]

David J. Garrow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0520213025 | ISBN-13: 978-0520213029 | Edition: Updated

Liberty and Sexuality is a definitive account of the legal and political struggles that created the right to privacy and won constitutional protection for a woman's right to choose abortion.
Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established that right, grew out of not only efforts to legalize abortion but also out of earlier battles against statutes that criminalized birth control. When the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut, voided such a prohibition as an outrageous intrusion upon marital privacy, it opened a previously unimagined constitutional door: the opportunity to argue that a woman's access to a safe, legal abortion was also a fundamental constitutional right.
Garrow's essential history details both the unheralded contributions of the young lawyers who filed America's first abortion rights cases and also the inside-the-Supreme Court deliberations that produced Roe v. Wade.
In this updated and expanded paperback edition, Garrow also traces the post-Roe evolution of abortion rights battles and the wider struggle for sexual privacy up through the 25th anniversary of Roe in early 1998.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in America. The somewhat shaky scaffold supporting that decision drew together social struggles; the rights of women, physicians, and the state; and a slew of earlier cases on birth control and sexuality that had crafted a right to privacy never written into the Constitution. The vast size of David J. Garrow's gloriously sprawling Liberty and Sexuality allows him to tease out the miniscule fibers that would eventually be woven into Roe. While heavy hitters like Margaret Sanger and Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun are well drawn, it's the bit players who really have a chance to shine here. When James G. Morris, a Roman Catholic father of five, reads in the newspapers about a birth control clinic violating an antiquated Connecticut law in the 1960s, he doggedly calls police, prosecutor, and mayor until a reluctant investigation is kicked off. Marie Wilson Tindall, who had been to the clinic, agrees to have her testimony and contraband contraceptive jelly duly entered into the record to start a landmark court battle that would lay the foundation for Roe. And over the years, a veritable army of legal scholars, law clerks, judges, and regular citizens took part in an increasingly acrimonious debate over reproductive rights and free expression of sexuality. Well-crafted prose and meticulous journalistic footwork make this a definitive book for anyone intrigued by the ponderous mechanisms of legal and social change. --Francesca Coltrera

From Publishers Weekly

Behind the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v . Wade decision guaranteeing a woman's right to abortion lay 50 years of legal struggle. In this massively detailed, stirring chronicle, Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Martin Luther King Jr. ( Bearing the Cross ), shows how the courage and initiative of ordinary women and men made a crucial difference in establishing that right. He begins with Katharine Houghton Hepburn, an outspoken Connecticut activist who opened birth control clinics in the 1930s in defiance of a state law. Following in Hepburn's footsteps, Estelle Griswold, executive director of Connecticut Planned Parenthood, succeeded in having her own criminal conviction reversed by the Supreme Court: the 1965 Griswold v . Connecticut decision, which declared unconstitutional an 1879 statute criminalizing the use or counseling of birth control, paved the way for challenges to anti-abortion statutes across the U.S. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, Garrow profiles key advocates of the liberalization or repeal of anti-abortion laws in the decades preceding Roe . In a cogent final chapter he argues that Roe v . Wade has sustained "far greater wounds from the friendly fire of professed supporters than from the explicit attacks of candid opponents." Activists and students of legal history will be the most likely audience for this tome.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1064 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; Updated edition (December 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520213025
• ISBN-13: 978-0520213029
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,399,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dry, but informative May 5, 2002

By Robin Orlowski

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this text for an Indepdendent Study course, figuring I could at least flip through the book and gain a summary idea of the case's depths and legal foundation. Although I prided myself on a good grasp of Roe prior to this point, reading the expansive text gave me a greater understanding and appreciation for the case.

While this book might be better suited for policy wonks and/or those with some legal training, the substantial read is definently worth it. Even if it is not as animated or lively as other histories of the historic 1973 Supreme Court decision, it is essential to understanding that case in the larger context of constitutional law and public policy. The right to privacy had gradually been building prior to the Roe case, and did not happen in a vaccum as some opponents would later claim.

The book concludes with an equally impressive account of the years following Roe and the combined impact of subsequent/rulings and legislation. Because this book does not rely on the "interest groups/grassroots" perspective, individuals in search of such information need to be prepared for further research.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding January 10, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book is a must read for anyone exploring the law surrounding reproductive rights in this country. I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the law, in the legal right to privacy, and who is willing and eager to learn. It is by far the most enlightening and simply outstanding book I have read on the subject.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative, but horribly edited April 25, 2010

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book not for its material on Roe but actually for research on Griswold. I have to say, it is full of well researched information dating back to about the 1920s debates on the 1879 Connecticut law banning contraceptives. You can't go much further back to the foundations of Roe than this book takes you, but it will be a difficult read. The editor of this book seriously failed at the job. It comes out to about 739 pages of material, minus notes, bibliography and whatnot, but there are only 9 chapters and an epilogue. To make things worse, there are NO HEADINGS ANYWHERE. Garrow jumps from character to character, year to year, and event to event with no clear breaks or organization. If you're looking for an interesting read about Roe, stay away from this book. If you're looking for information about Roe or the right to privacy, this book will probably have it, but be prepared to go through hell to find it.