地方政治与权利创造——美国康涅狄格州节育法引发的社会政治斗争

Local Politics and the Creation of Rights——Social and Political Struggles on Birth Control Law in Connecticut

1879年,康涅狄格州议会在道德立法风潮的影响下通过了一项法律,禁止使用节育用品、传播相关信息。而1920年之后,节育逐渐为多数美国民众所接受。康涅狄格州节育组织为废除或修订节育法,发起了长期的政治斗争。支持节育的社会组织、新教人士和医学群体与反对节育的地方天主教会、保守人士在听证会和议会上展开交锋。立法斗争多次失败之后,节育组织转而创办诊所,引发数起诉讼,提出多种权利主张,最终通过联邦最高法院的判决取得胜利。这场节育法引发的争论,体现了地方议会与主流民意、地方政治与联邦法院的互动与博弈,揭示了利益群体参与社会政治活动的过程。

Among the wave of moral legislations, Connecticut General Assembly passed an act in 1879,which forbade the use of contraceptives and dissemination of birth control information. With the change of social climate, American people and government gradually accepted birth control. Connecticut Birth Control League launched long-term social-political campaigns for repealing or modifying the outdated law. Birth control advocates, Protestants and medical professionals debated on the bills with local Roman Catholics and conservatives in the hearings and assembly. After repeated failures, they initiated a series of lawsuits and created a set of new rights and liberties and finally achieved their goal. The social-political struggles around Connecticut birth control laws exemplified the interactions among local politics, popular will and the Supreme Court, revealing how interest groups engage themselves in social politics.