Charles Lee Buxton (October 14, 1904 – July 7, 1969) was an American

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

, professor at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

, and appellant in

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

case ''

Griswold v. Connecticut ''Griswold v. Connecticut'', 381 U.S. 479 (1965), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives withou ...

''. He best known as a birth control advocate and, along with

Estelle Griswold Estelle Naomi Trebert Griswold (June 8, 1900 – August 13, 1981) was a civil rights activist and feminist most commonly known as a defendant in what became the Supreme Court case '' Griswold v. Connecticut'', in which contraception for married ...

, party to several legal cases that ultimately repealed Connecticut's

Comstock laws The Comstock laws were a set of federal acts passed by the United States Congress under the Grant administration along with related state laws.Dennett p.9 The "parent" act (Sect. 211) was passed on March 3, 1873, as the Act for the Suppression of ...

and established a Constitutional

right to privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 1948 ...

for married couples.

Biography

Buxton was born in

Superior, Wisconsin , native_name_lang = oj , nickname = , total_type = , motto = , image_skyline = Tower Avenue.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Downtown Superior , ima ...

, in 1904 to Edward Timothy Buxton, a lumber trader, and Lucinda Lee Buxton. He grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, then attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. Buxton graduated with an M.D. from the

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded i ...

in 1932. A specialist in female infertility, he joined the Columbia faculty in 1938. He became full professor in 1951, but moved to the

in 1953 when offered a position as chair of its Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. At Yale, he was a fellow of

Jonathan Edwards College Jonathan Edwards College (informally JE) is a residential college at Yale University. It is named for theologian and minister Jonathan Edwards, a 1720 graduate of Yale College. JE's residential quadrangle was the first to be completed in Yale's r ...

. Buxton and his wife, Helen Rotch, had four children.

Contraception activism

Upon moving his infertility practice to

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, Buxton discovered he would be unable to prescribe or supply contraceptives to his patients because of Connecticut's anti-contraception

Comstock law The Comstock laws were a set of federal acts passed by the United States Congress under the Grant administration along with related state laws.Dennett p.9 The "parent" act (Sect. 211) was passed on March 3, 1873, as the Act for the Suppression of ...

of 1879, which had been enforced for the first time in 1940. The prohibition extended to his patients whose lives were threatened by pregnancy and those who had experienced serial miscarriages, cases which stirred Buxton to action, and later formed the basis of a legal challenge. He began working with

of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut in 1955 on their legislative challenge of Connecticut's anti-contraception law, and in 1957 testified in

Connecticut state legislature The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Th ...

for a doctors' exception to the ban. In the absence of legislative progress, Griswold and Buxton decided to mount a judicial challenge. Supported by

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

professor Fowler Harper and lawyer Katie Roraback, they filed five cases on behalf of Buxton and four anonymous patients: ''Buxton v. Ullman'', ''Hoe v. Ullman'', ''Roe v. Hullman'', ''Doe v. Ullman'', and ''Poe v. Ullman''. The

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in ...

upheld the ban on contraception. On appeal, ''Buxton v. Ullman'' and ''

Poe v. Ullman ''Poe v. Ullman'', 367 U.S. 497 (1961), was a United States Supreme Court case that held that plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge a Connecticut law that banned the use of contraceptives and banned doctors from advising their use because the ...

'', filed for a patient who had experienced three stillbirths, were accepted by the

in 1960. In June 1961, the cases were dismissed by the court in a 5–4 ruling on the grounds that the case was not

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because the law had not been enforced on the plaintiffs. Immediately after the case, Buxton notified the Yale School of Medicine and Grace–New Haven Hospital that his clinic would begin providing contraceptive advice to patients. In November 1961, Griswold announced the opening new New Haven Planned Parenthood headquarters building with a family planning clinic, with Buxton as its medical director. Griswold and Buxton were arrested by the

New Haven Police The New Haven Police Department is the law enforcement agency responsible for the city of New Haven, Connecticut. History Founding and early years The NHPD was formed with the signing of a bill on July 27, 1861. Its first elected Chief was ...

nine days after the clinic opened. The resulting case against Buxton and Lee, ''The State of Connecticut v. Estelle T. Griswold and C. Lee Buxton'', was affirmed by the Connecticut Supreme Court in April 1964, providing evidence that the case was ripe. The appeal, known as '' Whitney v. Griswold'', was heard by the US Supreme Court one year later and overturned in a 7–2 ruling, finding the original anti-contraception statute unconstitutional because it violated "the right to marital privacy." Buxton's health began to fail towards the end of the appeal. In 1965, he took a leave of absence from Yale. He died on July 7, 1969 in

Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 census. History The peaceful tribe of Quinnipiacs were the first residents of the ...

Bibliography

Books

*Buxton, C. Lee. (1949). ''Diagnosis and Therapy of Gynecological Endocrine Disorders'' *Buxton, C. Lee; Southem, Anna Lenore Skow. (1958). ''Human Infertility'' *Buxton, C. Lee. (1962). ''A Study of Psychophysical Methods for Relief of Childbirth Pain''

Articles

*Buxton, C. Lee. (1940). "Pregnanediol Determination as An Aid in Clinical Diagnosis." ''American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology'' *Buxton, C. Lee; Engle, E. T. (1950). "Timing of Ovulation." ''American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology'' *Buxton, C. Lee. (1956). "Human Infertility." ''Gynecology & Obstetrics'' *Southam, AL; Buxton, C. Lee (1957). "Factors Influencing Reproductive Potential." ''Fertility & Sterlity'' *Buxton, C. Lee; Weinman, D; Johnson, Carl. (1958). "Epidemiology of Trichomonas Vaginalis Vaginitis: A Progress Report." ''Obstetrics & Gynecology'' *Buxton, C. Lee; Hermann, W. (1961). "Induction of Ovulation in the Human with Human Gonadotropins: Preliminary Report." ''Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey'' *Buxton, C. Lee; Mastrionni, L. (1962). "Surgical Treatment of Infertility." ''Obstetrics & Gynecology''

Notes

References

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