What's next?

 Recent columns by Paul Waldman  and Jamelle Bouie say that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, conservatives will take aim at Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court decision that struck down state laws against birth control for married couples (a 1972 decision extended that to unmarried people).  Recent surveys find that only about 10% of people say that birth control is "morally wrong," so it's safe to say that even if Griswold v. Connecticut were reversed, even the most conservative states wouldn't try to ban birth control.  But what about 1965--was the Supreme Court leading or following public opinion?  As far as I know, no surveys asked how people felt about the decision.  There weren't many relevant questions of any kind, but a Gallup survey from February 1965 asked "what situations can you think of where you would approve of the use of birth control methods, such as contraceptive pills?"  About 18% said there were none, another 13% said they didn't know or gave no answer, and 70% offered one or more reasons.  There was also a question that noted that in some states it was illegal to supply birth control information and asked if "birth control information should be available to anyone who wants it?"  82% said yes, 11% said no, and 7% didn't know.  There were also a few questions about the position of the Catholic church.  After one that mentioned that the church was opposed to the use of birth control, there was another asking "do you feel that most Roman Catholics would like to see the church change its position on the use of birth control methods, such as pills, or not?"  62% said yes, 11% said no, and 27% didn't know; among Catholics, it was 65% yes, 20% no, and 15% didn't know.  

It seems like the court was following rather than leading public opinion on this issue.  At the time, only two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts, had general laws against birth control.  Both of those had large Catholic populations, but even at that time, many Catholics didn't share the official church position, so the laws probably wouldn't have survived much longer even in those states.  

[Data from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research]