Anyone with a passing knowledge of the history of reproductive rights in America has heard of the antediluvian Comstock Act but I doubt most of them ever thought it would actually be back in use in the 21st century. The notorious "anti-vice" law from 1873 banned the shipment of "lewd" written materials, contraceptives and any “instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing” for the purpose of abortion, and had not been in force for many decades since the passage of various laws and the recognition of a constitutional right to abortion in 1973's Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. Nonetheless, it remained on the books. And leave it to the radicals putting together Project 2025 to exhume it the minute Samuel Alito and company give them the green light.
My Salon colleague Amanda Marcotte wrote about the Comstock Act in depth a few months ago in the wake of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Mifepristone ruling (access to which was thankfully affirmed (for now) by the Supreme Court this month.) The original decision relied heavily on the Comstock Act to justify the decision to ban the drug, an issue which was left unresolved by the Supreme Court when it threw out the lawsuit on the basis of standing rather than the merits. So the Comstock Act remains on the books and is now theoretically constitutional since the reversal of Roe v Wade, at least when it comes to contraception and abortion. Other aspects of the law regarding obscenity are still unenforceable as they remain protected under other precedents.
