From Patriotism to Pluralism: How Catholics Initiated the Repeal of Birth Control Restrictions in Massachusetts

In 1948, Massachusetts Catholics, led by Archbishop Richard Cushing, successfully campaigned against a voter referendum that would have repealed the state’s law prohibiting the dissemination of birth control devices and information. Seventeen years later, however, Cushing, now a cardinal, did not oppose the next attempt to repeal the law. This article shows why and how Massachusetts Catholics (lay and clerical) changed their position on the limitations to birth control, the final restrictions in the country. They adopted a pluralistic language of religious tolerance with the help of John Courtney Murray, as he was drafting the Declaration on Religious Freedom.