The Stop Comstock Act would repeal 1873 law that could be misused to ban abortion nationwide
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S.Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and 14 of their Senate colleagues introduced a bill to repeal an 1873 law, called the Comstock Act, that Republicans and anti-choice extremists want to misuse to ban abortion nationwide. Comstock has been cited recently by Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas in oral arguments during the case that threatened access to mifepristone. It was also invoked in Project 2025 – broadly seen as a roadmap for a potential future Trump administration – as a way to use unilateral executive action to effectively ban abortion nationwide.
“When the Comstock Act was written, women didn’t have the right to vote or even open their own bank accounts. If given the power, anti-choice Republicans have made it clear that they will use this 150-year-old law to enact a national abortion ban without Congress or the American people’s approval,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “We cannot let that happen, which is why I’m introducing legislation to repeal Comstock and protect women’s access to critical reproductive health care.”
The Comstock laws are a set of 1800s laws meant to ban the mailing or shipping of every obscene, lewd, or indecent article, matter, thing or device, with the goal of restricting abortion, contraceptives, and even love letters. A future administration hostile to reproductive health care could willfully misapply these vague laws to impose a ban on abortion nationwide, even without any Congressional action.
The Stop Comstock Act would repeal language in the Comstock Laws that could be used by an anti-abortion administration to ban the mailing of mifepristone and other drugs used in medication abortions, instruments and equipment used in abortions, and educational material related to sexual health. Medication abortion is how nearly 60% of abortions take place in this country today. It is the most common form of abortion in the United States.
Representative Becca Balint will be introducing the House companion bill, with co-leads Reps. Bush, Escobar, Scanlon, and Watson Coleman. The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Cory Booker, (D-N.J.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
You can access a summary of the bill here.
The legislation has been endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, Physicians for Reproductive Health, the Center for Reproductive Rights, National Women’s Law Center, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), Take Back the Court Action Fund, Healthcare Across Borders, All* Above All, Power to Decide, Expanding Medication Abortion Access (EMAA), Power to Decide, The Guttmacher Institute and Indivisible.
Senator Cortez Masto has been fierce advocate for women’s reproductive rights. In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Cortez Masto introduced the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act to ensure legal protections for women traveling across state lines to receive reproductive care. She’s championed the Women’s Health Protection Act to guarantee equal access to abortion everywhere. She’s also a cosponsor of legislation to codify the right to contraception, and has urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect the data privacy of women seeking reproductive care. She took on one of the nation’s biggest pharmaceutical wholesalers to ensure Nevadans can access the abortion pill in retail pharmacies, including Walgreens and CVS.
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