Birth control not banned after Roe v. Wade overturned

The reversal of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade’s federal protection of abortion rights has raised many questions about possible implications for other areas of reproductive health care.

Some people on social media have concerns expressed on access to contraception following the June 24 Supreme Court decision.

VERIFY viewer Cierra also texted the team asking, “Is contraception banned now?”

Did the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade lift the birth control ban?

No, the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Repealing Wade doesn’t ban birth control.

The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization removed the constitutional protections for abortion established by Roe v. Wade in 1973 and reaffirmed by Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. Other constitutional rights provided by the Fourteenth Amendment, including access to contraception.

“The court emphasizes that this decision affects the constitutional right to abortion and no other right. Nothing in this statement should be taken as challenging precedent unrelated to abortion,” read a summary of the majority opinion, written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

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In 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut, the court ruled that the use of contraception by married couples falls within the right to privacy arising from the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution. The same tenant of a right to privacy was used to control abortion in Roe v. to protect Wade, the right to private, consensual sexual activity in Lawrence v. Texas to grant and same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. to legalize Hodges.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in his unanimous opinion, emphasized that other non-abortion-related cases are currently unaffected by the ruling, writing in part that Griswold “is out of the question.”

“So I agree that there is nothing in it [the Court’s] Opinion should be understood as challenging precedents unrelated to abortion,” wrote Thomas.

RELATED: Yes, the Supreme Court has overturned precedents before

Thomas added that the court should “reconsider” precedents such as Griswold, which affirmed a right to privacy in future cases. His comments have raised concerns among advocates about possible future rollbacks of LGBTQ rights and other reproductive health protections.

In their dissenting opinion, the three judges opposing the overturning of Roe v. Wade said they “regard the prospects of this court approving contraceptive bans as slim”. However, the statement will “bring the fight for contraception and all other issues with a moral dimension out of the Fourteenth Amendment and into state legislatures,” they added.

Both Liza Fuentes, a senior researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, and a spokeswoman for the Center for Reproductive Rights told VERIFY that there are no states that ban contraceptives outright. However, some states limit access to birth control for minors, and adults face barriers such as mandatory prescriptions for some birth control methods, the Center for Reproductive Rights added.

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