On Thursday evening, the Whitney Literary Society at the New Haven Museum featured a program that began with a lively discussion about a book that explores a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion rights and privacy. It concluded with a call for a permanent public memorialization of t hat decision and the bravery of Estelle Griswold and the other advocates and participants. The book in question is Griswold v. Connecticut: Contraception and the Right of Privacy by Susan C. Wawrose.  A small but enthusiastic group attended the event, which included a display of pertinent documents from the library’s collection. The talk coincided with the wonderful current new exhibit, New Haven’s Unfinished Revolutions. This is a relatively unknown chapter in New Haven history, but I happen to know a great deal about it because my mother, Susan W. Neale, was hired by Griswold to open the first Planned Parenthood clinic after the 1965 Supreme Court decision. While working on a master’s degree in public health, she interviewed Estelle Griswold around the time of the Supreme Court decision. Mrs. Griswold told her she wanted Mom to be the first clinic director in New Haven. Though my mother protested that she had not finished her degree yet, Mrs. Griswold convinced her that Planned Parenthood was more important. She opened the first clinic on Orange Street. Early years were tough. Press was hard to get, such that one of the clippings she saved was of garbage piling up in front of the clinic during a sanitation strike, on which Mom wrote, “We finally made the front page.” Many of the items on display were from my mother’s papers, which I donated in 2021. As a young teen, I often came to New Haven and was allowed to wander around to the Peabody Museum, Yale Coop, and Cutlers. I came and went to the clinic through the back door accessed from Lincoln Street. My awareness of what Griswold, Mom, and Planned Parenthood had accomplished grew over time as I fit it all in to the history of civil rights in the United States. Wawrose’s book details Estelle Griswold’s fight to change Connecticut’s law forbidding contraception. The law was not strictly enforced, private doctors were ignored, but Planned Parenthood wanted to provide contraception and family planning services at low cost especially in less well-off neighborhoods in New Haven.  In order to challenge the law, Griswold and a board of directors had opened a clinic at 79 Trumbull St. in 1961. That’s next door to the museum. With some willing patients and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, Griswold conducted a clinic. On arrival of a detective, Griswold explained carefully how the clinic worked and how they were indeed breaking state law. The case made its way through Connecticut courts all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Finally, on June 7, 1965, the court ruled in their favor, finding a “right of privacy.” Participants in Thursday night’s discussion speculated about what life would be like today without this decision and how many current threats there still are to privacy.  Yet the discussion kept returning to the audacity of Estelle Griswold and the circle of advocates she drew around her and the pride we now feel that this happened right here in New Haven. And not far away, but next door to the museum!  Everyone expressed gratitude for Griswold’s and Buxton’s willingness to be arrested to advance rights we have today.  And yet why is this highly significant event not commemorated on the site?  From the discussion emerged the idea of advocating for a plaque on the building at 79 Trumbull. Ideas included a plaque or witness stone or a brass sidewalk marker. And the time is ripe to do so as Yale University has recently acquired the building. Bill Neale retired in 2020 from Radiall USA after years managing the factory on John W. Murphy Drive in Fair Haven. He was active in New Haven, having served on several boards, including as president of the New Haven Manufacturer’s Association. The book under discussion at a recent New Haven Museum event. The post Opinion: Now Is The Time To Commemorate Griswold appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less