"Momma's Got the Pill": How Anthony Comstock and Griswold v. Connecticut Shaped U.S. Childbearing

Research on this project was generously supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Michigan Population Studies Center. I am grateful for insightful comments from Jeremy Atack, Dale Ballou, Charlie Brown, Tom Buchmueller, Kasey Buckles, Bill Collins, John DiNardo, Daniel Eisenberg, David Frisvold, David Lam, Bob Margo, Heather Royer, Jeff Smith, Gary Solon, Tara Watson, Charlie Westoff, and Bob Willis. This paper has also benefited from the comments and suggestions the participants at the University of Minnesota Population Center, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Annual Meetings in Health Policy Research, and seminar participants at the University of Indiana, Stanford University, University of Toronto Law School, the University of Michigan Labor Seminar and Population Studies Center, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. Allie Davido provided exceptional legal research and coauthored the online legal appendix. We gratefully acknowledge input from Joanna Lahey and Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat in the construction of this paper's legal appendix. I am also grateful to Lindley Barbee, Emily Gray, and Kate VandenBroek for research assistance. Isaac W. Eberstein made me aware of Loretta Lynn's controversial 1972 hit, "Pill," referenced in the paper's title. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• data appendix

• January 22, 2009