Democrats urge contraception protections on Griswold anniversary

Representatives Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville, and Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, appeared in Birmingham on Wednesday to call for continued access to contraception on the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut.

The court ruled in Griswold in 1965, guaranteeing a constitutional right to marital privacy in family planning decisions after gynecologist Estelle Griswold was prosecuted for violating Connecticut’s 1879 ban on contraceptive drugs, medical devices or instruments.

The press conference, held in Railroad Park in partnership with Americans for Contraception, featured comments from Lands, Rafferty and Alabama Democratic Party Vice Chair Tabitha Isner on the importance of the Griswold decision and the future of contraceptive access in Alabama and the broader United States.

Attendees spoke in front of Americans for Contraception’s 20-foot inflatable IUD replica, “Freeda Womb,” which the organization said “serves as a highly visible reminder of the importance of protecting the right to contraception and the real-world consequences of political and legal attacks on reproductive freedom.”

Lands opened her remarks by citing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ call in his concurrence with the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization for the court to reconsider Griswold.

She also condemned the Trump administration’s push to shift the focus of the federal Title X program away from contraception promotion.

Title X is the only federal program that provides grants to public health departments and nonprofit reproductive health clinics. Grant applicants faced confusion earlier this year when the Trump administration released its 2026 guidance for the program several months late. The guidance argued the program has exhibited an “overreliance on pharmaceutical and surgical treatments.”

“Millions of women and families rely on contraception to plan their families, manage medical conditions, and make the decisions that are right for their lives. The overwhelming majority of Americans support access to contraception, over 90 percent,” Lands said. “Yet across this country, we are seeing efforts to undermine that access through legislation, funding cuts, and misinformation.”

Lands highlighted her filing of the Alabama Family Planning Act during the 2026 Legislative Session. The legislation would have codified the right to contraception and access to fertility and in vitro fertilization treatments.

“Unfortunately, the bill did not advance this session, but we were able to start meaningful dialogue on both sides of the aisle, and I think we were building support. And I want to be clear that this conversation is far from over,” Lands said.

“We will continue fighting for these protections because Alabamians deserve to know that their access to contraception and fertility care will not depend on who’s in the White House or on court decisions,” she added.

Lands cited maternal health challenges in Alabama and the state’s teen pregnancy rate, which is among the highest in the nation. She argued that a law enacted earlier this year requiring public school sexual education curriculum to exclusively teach “sexual risk avoidance” and prohibiting contraception demonstrations or curriculum will further exacerbate the state’s failing maternal health outcomes.

“We should be providing our young people with accurate and comprehensive information, and we most certainly should be trusting people to make their own personal healthcare decisions,” Lands said.

Lands described the 61st anniversary of the Griswold ruling as “a reminder that progress is never permanent.”

“As we commemorate this anniversary, I hope lawmakers across Alabama and across this country will recognize what is at stake. Because the reality is simple,” Lands said.

“Will we protect the freedoms of individuals and families to make their own decisions about contraception? Or will we allow that freedom to be chipped away piece by piece?” she continued. “I know where I stand. I stand with Alabama families, and I stand with our healthcare providers, and I stand on the fundamental principle that access to contraception must be protected.”

Rafferty, who cosponsored the Alabama Family Planning Act, criticized Alabama’s near-total ban on abortion access and Attorney General Steve Marshall’s proposal to pursue criminal charges against women who attempt to access abortion pills or receive abortions out of state.

“The attorney general has floated using other criminal laws that go after women themselves. This is the Alabama they want. But this is not the Alabama that I represent,” Rafferty said.

“I’m a United States Marine, and I did not wear this country’s uniform to come home and watch its government claim the right to search your bedroom, read your prescriptions, and police your body. That is not freedom, and we are not going to let them have it,” he continued. “They have statutes, but we have something stronger. We have each other, and we have the vote. Your body, your privacy, your future. We’re showing up for every election. Not someday, not sometimes, but everything. So, let’s go win this, not with fear, but with each other. And let’s move forward together.”

Isner, who announced last week that she would no longer run for Alabama State Senate District 26 after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the state to use a previous Alabama State Senate district map previously ruled discriminatory, called for voters to remain engaged and informed on court rulings on contraception access and electoral proceedings.

“I want to be clear that whatever you think is safe, whatever you think is guaranteed by the law, whatever you think has already been decided by the courts, it’s all up for grabs right now,” Isner said. “I was sure I had an election to run for, and I was sure I was going to win. And it’s gone. I was sure, a few years ago, that Roe was secure. And now it’s gone.”

Isner reflected on her experience deciding to become a foster parent and the importance of contraception to ensuring individual and family autonomy.

“I’ve never been pregnant, and that’s on purpose. I always wanted to be a foster mom. I always wanted to adopt. I felt called to it,” she said. “God came to me while I was young, told me as a teenager that that was what God wanted for my life, and because of contraception, I was able to pursue that family for me and for my husband. It’s been a beautiful life.”

Isner closed the event by encouraging reflection on the importance of reproductive health protections in light of existing gaps in health care access.

“We might like to live in a place where every child is guaranteed to be well cared for, to always have food in their belly and healthcare available to them,” Isner said. “But that’s not the world we live in. We live in a culture of individual responsibility, and individual responsibility means that each individual has to have the tools available to be responsible for themselves. Contraception is one of those tools.”

The Birmingham event came on the heels of U.S. House lawmakers introducing a discharge petition Tuesday to push a vote on the federal Right to Contraception Act, legislation aimed at codifying the privacy rights established by Griswold.

U.S. Representatives Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, and Shomari Figures, D-Alabama, have both endorsed the petition.

In a Wednesday statement, Americans for Contraception spokesperson Chris Fleming, who appeared alongside state Democrats at the Birmingham event, told APR that his organization is grateful for Figures’ and Sewell’s support for the petition while urging Alabama’s congressional Republicans to sign onto the proposal.

Fleming wrote that by not endorsing the petition, Alabama’s Republican federal lawmakers have “refused to stand up to their party’s leadership and allow a simple up-or-down vote.”

“We applaud Representative Terri Sewell for her leadership in advancing this discharge petition and fighting to ensure the House has an opportunity to vote on protections for the right to contraception,” Fleming wrote. “House members who say they support contraception rights should sign the petition and allow a vote on the ‘Right to Contraception Act.’ Alabamians deserve to know where their elected representatives stand.”

The petition, which had been signed by 189 congressional Democrats as of Wednesday afternoon, needs 218 signatures to force a vote on the legislation.