Health Care & Hospital Law,
Government,
Administrative/Regulatory
Apr. 18, 2023
The previously moot Comstock Act has been resurrected, giving new life to the anti-abortion movement
Although the Comstock Act has been amended numerous times since 1893, the anti-abortion prohibition language has remained the same. In other words, one may reasonably argue that Congress intended the prohibitions to continue as written.
John H. Minan
Emeritus Professor of Law
University of San Diego School of Law
Professor Minan is a former attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and the former chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Board.
The Comstock Act of 1893, which was named after the anti-abortion crusader Anthony Comstock, was raised from the dead by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, 142 S.Ct. 2228 (2022). The opponents of abortion argue for greater restrictions on access to medication abortions, which account for more than half the abortions nationally, and use of the mail based on the Comstock Act.
This federal law prohibits anyone who "knowingly" uses a com...
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