Democrats target 150-year-old 'zombie law,' warning the GOP could use it to ban abortion

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

June 20, 2024, 11:32 AM EDT


WASHINGTON — A group of Senate Democrats is pushing to repeal a 150-year-old law that reproductive rights advocates fear could be used to further curb access to abortion, specifically abortion pills.

The Comstock Act of 1873 bans lewd, obscene or abortion-producing materials from being sent through the mail, although it has not been widely enforced for decades. As the abortion pill mifepristone faces legal challenges, its defenders fear that the Comstock Act could be used by a future president as a tool to curtail abortion access nationwide, including in states where it is legal.

“The Comstock Act is a 150-year-old zombie law banning abortion that’s long been relegated to the dustbin of history,” Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., a leader on the bill, said in a statement announcing the legislative push. “Now that Trump has overturned Roe, a future Republican administration could misapply this 150-year-old Comstock law to deny American women their rights, even in states where abortion rights are protected by state law.”

While Planned Parenthood has endorsed the new legislation, there has been reluctance from some parts of the reproductive rights movement and from other elected Democrats to dive too deeply into overturning the Comstock Act for fear of legitimizing it.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-target-150-year-old-zombie-law-warning-gop-use-ban-abortion-rcna158046

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I saw the headline and didn't even have to "guess" what this was about. That "Comstock Act" shit HAS to go. Even if they can stick the repeal on some "must pass" appropriations bill. There are already OTHER laws that deal with things like child porn.

[Mz Pip]

1. Alito would love this.

It’s a bit more current than the 16th century bs he used in Dobbs.

[The Roux Comes First]

2. You Can Read More About This Truly Loathsome Bit of Doggerel Legislation In

"The Man Who Hated Women" by Amy Sohn.

It's way past time we got this piece of crap off the books.

[jmowreader]

3. The GOP is a bizarre group, which we knew already

There's a movement in the Republican Party to make ALL laws, regardless of how good they are, null and void after five years. If Congress believes a law is still good, they will be able to renegotiate it and get it back into the law books.

This would lead to bizarre things like having to renegotiate 18 USC 1652 (Whoever, being a citizen of the United States, commits any murder or robbery, or any act of hostility against the United States, or against any citizen thereof, on the high seas, under color of any commission from any foreign prince, or state, or on pretense of authority from any person, is a pirate, and shall be imprisoned for life.) when it's still a perfectly good law.

But when it comes to abortion they're more than happy to pull out 150 year old laws that weren't good when they were written.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. They were aiming the "sunset" provision at Social Security

[Hekate]

5. I'm very grateful the Comstock Act is on elected Dem's radar, because it sure has been on the MAGA's

Red states have been recreating it bit by bit, and then some.

[slightlv]

6. Using the Comstock Act

would hit men's sexuality, too. I wonder if they've even stopped to think about that?

No more Cialis, no more viagra. No more porn in print or digital.

They will end up trying to outlaw masturbation, too... it wasn't doctors who came out with the "you'll go blind" or end up with "hairy palms" if you do that sayings.

We need replacement babies to keep our society going. This can easily form a backlash against babies and sex, among women and men, if they try to push it on everyone. Look at China and India as examples of what happens when you try to legislate sexuality. Some things are individual whether the government likes it or not.

Tell MEN they can't have sex? Tell MEN they're too old for sex and they have to accept if God wills it that the willy won't work? I don't think they're going to accept that any better than we women as baby slaves has been accepted by us. In fact, I worry what happens when it occurs. Males are not known for their peaceful acceptance of what they deem as meddling into their personal freedoms.

[Zincwarrior]

7. I don't see it passing the House

I see the repeal passing the Senate, but not the House.