Relic

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the ongoing debate over expanded access to the abortion pill, mifepristone, the applicability of the Comstock Act has emerged as a chilling concern for advocates of free speech. This 151-year-old law was originally intended to ban the mailing of materials deemed “obscene, lewd, [or] lascivious,” including contraception and pornography. However, the Act’s connection to the availability of mifepristone is hotly contested and unlikely to gain traction in the Supreme Court. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, while outliers on this issue, have raised the Act’s relevance in the recent oral arguments. … Read more