u/Key-Service2992

I understand that the abortion ban was made retroactively applicable. What about contraception? If contraception was punished retroactively I imagine a lot more women would be able to be taken as handmaids. But on the other hand, I suppose use of contraceptions alone is not really enough to know if a person is fertile so maybe the government did not care to retroactively apply this (although I’m sure they could use a woman’s history of contraceptive use pre-Gilead to blackmail her or bring up conveniently to punish her).

Also I know that second marriages were considered invalid and illegal. Did Gilead consider legitimate first marriages that did not happen in a religious ceremony but rather just in front of a justice of the peace?