Democrats Introduce Bill To Repeal Comstock Act

LOADING ERROR LOADING Democrats in the Senate and House introduced a bill to repeal an archaic law that could be revived to implement a national abortion ban. Sen. Tina Smith introduced the Stop Comstock Act on Thursday afternoon in hopes of repealing the 1873 law that criminalizes sending “obscene” materials in the mail, including anything “intended for producing abortion.” The Comstock Act is not currently being enforced, but Donald Trump’s anti-abortion allies have revealed that they hope to use the law to ban abortion nationwide if the former president is elected again. Medication abortions, or abortions using pills, account for more than 60% of abortions in the U.S. “The Comstock Act is a 150-year-old zombie law banning abortion that’s long been relegated to the dustbin of history,” Smith, who earlier this year wrote an opinion article on her plans to repeal the law, said in a Thursday statement. “But extremist Republicans and Trump judges have seized upon the idea of misusing Comstock to bypass Congress and strip women nationwide of their reproductive freedoms.” “Now that Trump has overturned Roe, a future Republican administration could try to misapply this 150-year-old Comstock law to deny American women their rights, even in states where abortion rights are protected by state law,” she added. Sen. Tina Smith has introduced the Stop Comstock Act, which would repeal a little-known 1873 law that criminalizes sending “obscene” materials in the mail, including anything “intended for producing abortion.” Samuel Corum/Getty Images Awareness of the antiquated law is alarmingly low: Two in three Americans do not know about the Comstock Act and its implications, according to recent polling from Navigator Research and Global Strategy Group.