What is the Comstock Act of 1873 and how is it tied to abortion pill case?
The Comstock Act is a set of federal laws passed by Congress in 1873. It made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or lascivious,” “immoral” or “indecent” materials through mail, including drugs that induce abortions and contraception.
Read more at The Hill
Experts Fear Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Are Laying the Groundwork for a Nationwide Ban on Medication Abortions—And Maybe Even All Abortions
“When you hear the justices asking repeated questions, it’s definitely something that they are interested in,” Leah Litman, a University of Michigan law professor, told The Washington Post, adding that she expects Alito or Thomas to write an opinion centered on Comstock. During an interview with the Post in May, antiabortion activist Mark Lee Dickson said the quiet part out loud, telling the outlet: “If a future president were to enforce these federal statutes, then they could shut down every abortion facility in America.”
Read more at Vanity Fair
A Potential National Abortion Ban Rears Its Head At The Supreme Court
“Justices Thomas and Alito were pretty clearly trying to roll out the red carpet for future claims even if this case doesn’t succeed,” said Mary Ziegler, a legal historian of the anti-abortion movement at the University of California, Davis, School of Law.
Read more at HuffPost
This Zombie Law Could Threaten Abortion Access Nationwide
“They’re trying to take us back to the 1800s, and take a position that, essentially, would shut down abortion care in the country,” Lorie Chaiten, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, told Rolling Stone when discussing the FDA case earlier this year. Her concern was well-founded. In a 67-page opinion that would have effectively ended nationwide distribution of mifepristone, Trump-appointed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk sided with lawyers who argued that the Comstock Act makes abortion pills “nonmailable.” The Fifth Circuit Court affirmed his interpretation, writing that the law may be violated by “merely by knowingly making use of the mail for a prohibited abortion item.” (The Supreme Court stayed the lower court decision.)
Read more at Rolling Stone
Fears grow over Comstock Act, Justices Thomas, Alito
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito repeatedly invoked the Comstock Act during oral arguments Tuesday in a case about the constitutionality of the Biden administration’s efforts to expand access to mifepristone.
Read more at The Hill