"Griswold v. Connecticut" originated as a prosecution under the Connecticut Comstock Act of 1873. The law made it illegal to use "any drug, medicinal article, or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception...". Violators could be "... fined not less than fifty dollars or imprisoned not less than sixty days nor more than one year or be both fined and imprisoned". By the 1950s, Massachusetts and Connecticut were the only two states that still had such statutes, although they were almost never enforced.