What is the Comstock Act? The 151-year-old law mentioned in SCOTUS abortion pill case

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : "The FDA's 2021 action sanctions the shipment of abortion drugs, including through mail-order pharmacies, which violates longstanding federal laws," the brief states.
49% : Legal experts and abortion rights advocates say they are interested to see whether the Supreme Court chooses to discuss the Comstock Act during oral arguments.
46% : "Although the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a memo in 2022 stating that sending abortion pills through the mail is not in violation of the Comstock Act, as long as the drugs are being used lawfully, experts say that determination could easily be ignored -- depending on who is president.
45% : "Some within the anti-abortion movement are being very explicit about how they want to use Comstock to almost function as a national abortion ban -- without Congress having to lift a finger.
44% : In 1996, members of the House of Representatives failed to repeal the provision related to abortion drugs in the Comstock Cleanup Act, which would have amended the Comstock Act "to repeal a ban on the importation, transportation, or mailing (including through use of a computer) of any material intended for producing abortion or for any indecent or immoral use.
43% : The plaintiffs contend that the FDA unlawfully relaxed restrictions on the drug to make it easier to access to end a pregnancy -- and, what's more, that the FDA's decision to allow patients to receive mifepristone by mail instead of in person from certified health providers specifically violates the Comstock Act.
42% : The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a case that could reinstate restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone and sharply roll back access nationwide.Being cited in the debate is a 151-year-old law, the Comstock Act of 1873, under which it's illegal to use carriers such as the United States Postal Service to mail "obscene" materials such as drugs that induce abortions.
42% : But the Justice Department has said that the Comstock Act doesn't apply in this case because no one can ever know exactly how a drug will be used when it's mailed.
40% : How the Comstock Act relates to SCOTUS case on mifepristoneA conservative legal group known as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine filed a lawsuit arguing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion drug mifepristone should be suspended, or at least severely restricted.
32% : Before the federal appeals court's ruling, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk -- who was appointed by Trump -- in April 2023 had suspended the FDA's approval of mifepristone.
20% : Abortion opponents hope the next anti-abortion president, potentially including Trump, would rely on the Comstock Act to pursue more restrictions.

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