The Comstock Act of 1873 is a relic, the work of an anti-vice crusader, Anthony Comstock, who lobbied Congress to prohibit, among other things, the mailing of any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” written material. The act, formally known as “An Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, obscene Literature and Articles of immoral Use,” also forbid the mailing of “any article or thing, designed or intended for the prevention of conception, or procuring of abortion.”
Over the decades, federal courts have narrowed the interpretation of this blunderbuss of a law, finding it ran into 1st Amendment issues. Congress removed the prohibition on contraception in 1971. And federal courts have agreed since the early 20th century that the law does not prohibit all mailing of items for an abortion, according to a December 2022 opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Attempts to repeal the Comstock Act have been unsuccessful, but it is so antiquated that it’s considered a “zombie” law — one that lies mostly dormant on the books, rarely used.
