Contraception and Abortion Rights

Be aware that all birth-control methods have risks and limitations.

In today's atmosphere, it's hard to believe that up until the early 1960s state laws still prohibited doctors from prescribing birth control devices, and that the people who used them, even when married to one another, could be found guilty of committing a crime by doing so. It wasn't until 1965 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the right to advertise, distribute, and use contraceptives was guaranteed by the right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution. Similarly, as an adult you have the right to consent to sterilization procedures which render you permanently incapable of reproduction.

As with any medical procedure or treatment, contraception and sterilization carry certain known risks. One of the most significant risks is that the procedure won't work, and you find yourself or your partner facing an unwanted pregnancy. In most cases, if the use of a contraceptive device results in a pregnancy, there is little you can do legally to make the manufacturer of the contraceptive or the doctor who prescribed it responsible for your predicament. Birth control pills, diaphragms, prophylactics (rubbers) or other devices come loaded with warnings about the possibility that they won't work. Unless you can show that you were unaware of these warnings, a prospect which is very unlikely, you won't succeed with a lawsuit based on contraceptive failure.