Court Strikes Down Alabama Sex Toy Ban
Associated Press, October
11, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—An Alabama law
banning the sale of sex toys was struck down by a federal judge as a violation
of the right to privacy.
``The fundamental right of privacy, long recognized by
the Supreme Court as inherent among our constitutional protections,
incorporates a right to sexual privacy,” U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith
Jr. said Wednesday.
He said the state did not prove it has a legitimate
interest in banning the sale of sex devices for use in private, consensual
relationships between adults.
The 1998 law—part of a package of legislation
strengthening the state’s obscenity law—banned the sale of devices
designed for ``the stimulation of human genital organs.” It was challenged
by six women who either sell sex aids or said they need them for sexual
gratification.
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