John, do you think it’s f*cking ridiculous that anti-abortion extremists might be able to use a law from 1873 to end abortion access? Then read on…
You’re probably starting to hear some chatter about the Comstock Act: it’s a federal “anti-obscenity” law that a dude named Anthony Comstock had passed after the Civil War.
Anthony was legitimately weird. He was uber-religious and wanted to impose his beliefs about “purity” on everyone else.
He was obsessed with the idea that people were too interested in sex — even though he also collected porn and sex toys from brothels and sex shops — so he helped create a law to keep anything “obscene” from being sent through the mail… like the porn he collected. He even wanted to keep some medical textbooks out of circulation!
The law also specifically outlawed birth control and abortifacients from being mailed.
The Comstock Act hasn’t been enforced for nearly a century, but far-right fascists want to change that. Although Congress got rid of the restriction on mailing birth control, the law was never fully repealed.
👎👎👎👎👎
Now, anti-abortion extremists are hoping that a future GOP presidential administration would choose to ENFORCE the Comstock Act once again.
Not only would that prevent abortion medication from being mailed, but it could also be interpreted to keep any medical instruments used in abortion care out of the US postal system.
If that happens, we’re f*cked.
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