Harry A. Blackmun

It is precisely because the issue raised by this case touches the heart of what makes individuals what they are that we should be especially sensitive to the rights of those whose choices upset the majority.

The right of an individual to conduct intimate relationships in the intimacy of his or her own home seems to me to be the heart of the Constitution's protection of privacy.

Disapproval of homosexuality cannot justify invading the houses, hearts and minds of citizens who choose to live their lives differently.

The states are not free, under the guise of protecting maternal health or potential life, to intimidate women into continuing pregnancies.

By placing discretion in the hands of an official to grant or deny a license, such a statute creates a threat of censorship that by its very existence chills free speech.

What the Court really has refused to recognize is the fundamental interest all individuals have in controlling the nature of their intimate associations.

I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.