1870s law sees renewed attention in abortion pill debate
Apr 11, 2023
By Mahmoud Bennett (Reporter), Jack Aylmer (Producer ), Emma Stoltzfus (Editor)
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1873 Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does the Comstock Act, a law from the 1870s, have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What the 1870s Comstock Act Has to Do With Abortion Pills
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1873 Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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Access to abortion pills: What does an 1870s law have to do with it?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
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Following the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the power to regulate any aspect of abortion not protected by federal law to individual states, another debate over abortion rights is brewing. At the center of the struggle is a piece of legislation from the 1870s, known as the Comstock Act.
Originally passed in 1873, the law was intended to prohibit the mailing of contraceptives, “lewd” writings and any “instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing” that could be used in an abortion. However, over the years federal courts have repeatedly narrowed the Comstock Act’s scope, dropping its reference to contraceptives in the 1970s, while legal experts say the federal government hasn’t even enforced the law since the 1930s.
Yet now, this somewhat forgotten law is receiving renewed attention. Some anti-abortion groups and conservative states are looking to block the mailing of mifepristone, the pill is used in more than half of abortions in the U.S., according to The Associated Press. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has sided with their argument in Texas, putting federal approval of the pill on hold more than two decades after the Food and Drug Administration gave it the initial go ahead.
“We stand by the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, and we are prepared for a long, legal fight. That’s what I can say from here,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “That’s what we are committed to do — to doing for the providers who are making sure that this is available to women and also for women out there.”
The judge added the dispensing of “chemical abortion drugs through mail violates unambiguous federal criminal law,” a decision that both the Biden administration and mifepristone’s main drugmaker have filed appeals to challenge. On the same night as that decision, a judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to maintain access to the drug in Democratic-led states that filed their own lawsuit, leaving a pair of dueling opinions that are likely to end up before the Supreme Court.
Media Landscape
This story is a Media Miss by the right as only 5% of the coverage is from right leaning media.
Learn more about this dataLeft 43%
Center 51%
Right 5%
Bias Distribution
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Associated Press News
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on abc News
What does 1873 Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Los Angeles Times
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on The Mercury news
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Star Tribune
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Alaska Highway News
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Denver Post
What does the Comstock Act, a law from the 1870s, have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on PBS NewsHour
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Lakeland Today
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Town And Country Today
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Burnaby Now
What the 1870s Comstock Act Has to Do With Abortion Pills
Click to see story on Time Magazine
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Delta Optimist
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Coast Reporter
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on San Antonio Express-News
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Dawson Creek Mirror
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What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on KRDO
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on KIFI
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Star Advertiser
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Winnipeg Free Press
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on News 4 JAX
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Click on Detroit
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on WKMG
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on WPLG
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Chicago Tribune
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Wral News
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Portland Press Herald
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on San Diego Union Tribune
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Sask Today
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on WCBD
What does 1873 Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on The Columbian
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on KOB 4
Access to abortion pills: What does an 1870s law have to do with it?
Click to see story on The Christian Science Monitor
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on WXYZ
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on KLFY
Click to close
Right
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Far
Right
+0
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Untracked Bias
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Richmond News
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on North Shore News
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Mountainview Today
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on AlbertaPrimeTimes.com
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Tri-City News
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Squamish Chief
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on New West Record
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Flin Flon Reminder
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on My Mother Lode
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on Rocky Mountain Outlook
What does 1870s Comstock Act have to do with abortion pills?
Click to see story on westernwheel.ca
Click to close
48 other sources covering this story
Total News Sources
48
Leaning Left
16
Center
19
Leaning Right
2
Last Updated
1 year ago
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