Over 100 years ago, Congress passed a law that made it a federal crime to distribute birth control across state lines. Connecticut — like about 30 other states — had a similar law. That’s right, people were threatened with going to jail for distributing or using contraceptives. It took two Connecticut Planned Parenthood workers to put an end to the madness. They set up a clinic and provided information and medical advice to married couples about preventing pregnancy — they were soon arrested.

It took a few years, but on June 7, 1965, the Supreme Court overturned their arrests and determined that the law was unconstitutional. The Griswold case also established the right to privacy — in this case for married couples. A few years later, unmarried couples and later, minors, would get the same right. It’s been 40 years since the Griswold case, and you’d think access to contraception would be assured. Not so. Think about the threats to emergency contraception and the continued attacks on national and international family planning programs. Everything old is new again.

- Melody Barnes

A series of new polls shows that President Bush and the right-wing stand on the opposite side of the American public on virtually every pillar of the “culture of life.” Progressives claimed a clean sweep on three key “values” issues:

On expanding federal funding of stem-cell research:

Fifty-eight percent approve of medical research using embryonic stem cells, 31 percent disapprove. Asked whether federally funded research should be expanded, 37 percent said it should, 17 percent said existing support was “sufficient.” [CBS]

On maintaining a Supreme Court that will uphold Roe v. Wade:

While American voters have mixed opinions about abortion, they support the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision 63 – 33 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Men support it 68 – 28 percent, while women support it 58 – 37 percent. 55 per cent of respondents say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 41 per cent disagree. [Quinnipac]

On working to end the genocide in Sudan:

84% of respondents said the U.S. should not tolerate an extremist government committing such attacks, and should use its military assets, short of inserting U.S. combat troops on the ground to protect civilians, to help bring them to a halt (83% Republicans, 85% Democrats). [Zogby]

The Unabomber and the Oklahoma City bombing proved that domestic terrorism can be just as devastating as threats from abroad. Unfortunately, experts who study hate crimes are becoming increasingly concerned about what they see to be an increase in hate-related incidents here at home, particularly “toward gay people and immigrants, as well as anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.” They point to some very real statistics to back up this claim:

The number of active hate groups in the U.S. has grown from 474 in 1997 to 762 in 2004, according to the SPLC [Southern Poverty Law Center], and in the past four years the number of hate Web sites has risen from 366 to 468.

The FBI reports more than 9,000 hate-crime victims in 2003 (the most recent reporting year). When an estimate of unreported crimes is added in, according to the SPLC, the total may be closer to 50,000 a year.

Meanwhile, white-supremacist groups, experiencing the recent demise and disaffection of national leaders, are splintering, creating smaller and potentially more dangerous cells. Experts wonder whether this “leaderless resistance” (as radical right-wing theoreticians call for) will peter out or instead breed more “lone wolf” domestic terrorists — more Timothy McVeighs and Eric Rudolphs.

What is the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for terrorist threats both at home and abroad, doing to address this problem? Well, with their political blinders on, they see no problem:

A draft planning document from Homeland Security obtained by Congressional Quarterly includes a survey of domestic threats notable for an excessive focus on extremist groups on the political left…. Glaringly omitted are the militia fanatics, white supremacists and other violent groups at the other end of the spectrum – antigovernment groups like Aryan Nation and anti-abortion extremists with a proven appetite for murderous violence.

From the OC Weekly, 3/1/02:

To understand how something like the Enron/Arthur Andersen debacle could happen, go back to 1993. That’s when Cox, as part of conservative Republicans’ so-called Contract With America, spearheaded efforts to torpedo protections for corporate investors and shield companies — like Enron — and their accountants — like Arthur Andersen — from investor lawsuits.

Much more to come later this morning in today’s Progress Report.