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The old days of coat-hanger abortions will never come back, we reassured ourselves as Roe was repeatedly threatened over the years. Even once the Dobbs decision handed the power to regulate abortion to the states, we told ourselves there would be no return to bleeding out on motel room floors or back alleys, now that most abortions can happen discreetly and safely at home, thanks to the abortion pill mifepristone. But beware: Modern American Puritans who sit on judicial benches and state legislatures are going after mifepristone and even contraception.

How? By jolting new life into an 1873 federal anti-obscenity law that has lain dormant for decades—the Comstock Act. The act criminalized contraceptives, abortifacients, sex toys, pornography, or sexual content (including medical advice), making it illegal to send such items via the US mail and eventually any means of interstate conveyance. “I knew about Comstock before Dobbs , but I wanted to say nothing about it,” anti-abortion legal mastermind Jonathan Mitchell told the Nation ’s Amy Littlefield in the spring of 2023.



“I really was hoping no one would say anything about the Comstock laws until Dobbs came out.” Dobbs accomplished, Mitchell and the other moral crusaders seized on Comstock with relish. Mitchell used it to challenge local “sanctuary” laws protecting abortion rights, and others permitting teens from getting access to contraception without parental permission.

District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Te.

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