The Civil War raged and fortune-seekers hunted for gold. This era...

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

64% : It's been revived by anti-abortion groups seeking to use it to block the mailing of the abortion pill mifepristone nationwide.
58% : Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law, said anti-abortion groups are pressuring presidential candidates to wield the law to block most abortions nationwide, even in states where it is currently legal, by barring the mailing of any drugs or equipment required for abortions.
57% : In other states, such as Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas, newer abortion laws have been layered onto older restrictions still on the books.
47% : Medication abortions account for most abortions in the U.S.Originally passed in 1873, the Comstock Act 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, though its scope has been narrowed by federal courts and Congress.
46% : Abortion rights advocates also are warning about another 19th century law called the Comstock Act that could have national impacts.
39% : There also are long-dormant laws in many states related to contraception and same-sex marriage that have not been revived, she added.
35% : The U.S. Supreme Court´s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women´s Health Organization overturned Roe.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.