Commonwealth of Massachusetts
A Proclamation
His Excellency Governor Deval L. Patrick
Whereas The right to privacy is recognized as a fundamental right for all citizens; and
Whereas March 22nd marks the fortieth anniversary of the United States Supreme Court ruling in Baird v. Eisenstadt, which legalized birth control for single people; and
Whereas Writing for the majority in this landmark case, Justice William Brennan stated, “If the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child;” and
Whereas It is appropriate that all Massachusetts citizens recognize the importance of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Baird v. Eisenstadt, a decision that was quoted six times in subsequent cases including Roe v. Wade,
Now, Therefore, I, Deval L. Patrick, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim March 22nd, 2012, to be
Right to Privacy Day
And urge all the citizens of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance.
Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this first day of March, in the year two thousand and twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
By His Excellency
Deval L. Patrick
Governor of the Commonwealth
William Francis Galvin
Secretary of the Commonwealth
God Save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts