In 1967 Boston University students petitioned Baird to challenge Massachusetts's stringent "Crimes Against Chastity, Decency, Morality and Good Order" law. On April 6, 1967 he gave a speech to 1,500 students and others at Boston University on abortion, birth control, environmental pollution, and overpopulation. He gave a female student one condom and a package of contraceptive foam. Police arrested him as a felon and he faced up to ten years in jail. He was convicted and sentenced to three months in Boston's Charles Street Jail.