Cori Bush, one of the founding members of Black Lives Matter and current congresswoman representing Missouri’s 1st district, has called for the Comstock Act to be abolished, following oral arguments over mifepristone during a Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday.
Bush says the 1873 bill is a “zombie statute,” which defines “contraceptives as obscene and illicit, making it a federal offense to disseminate birth control through the mail or across state lines,” according to PBS.
Officials of the federal government and the Christian legal advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom, testified before the Supreme Court, arguing over the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) actions to make the pill more accessible. Mifepristone is currently one of two pills used in medical abortions.
During oral arguments, Justice Samiel Alito brought up a study indicating that there has been an uptick in the number of patients who visit emergency rooms after receiving mail-order abortions. According to the Comstock Act, the mailing of anything related to contraceptives or abortion is prohibited.
On X, Bush wrote, “The Comstock Act must be repealed. Enacted in 1873, it is a zombie statute, a dead law that the far-right is trying to reanimate.”
“The anti-abortion movement wants to weaponize the Comstock Act as a quick route to a nationwide medication abortion ban. Not on our watch,” she added.
In a response to Alito’s point, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said that the visits to the emergency room were not the same as a rise in adverse events, adding that the women in the study he referenced did not receive any treatment.
Alito further questioned whether the bill should have been taken into consideration when the in-person dispensing requirement for the pill was done away with in 2021, which allowed for the pill to be sent via mail.
Prelogar responded that the FDA had been given advice from the Office of Legal Counsel about the Comstock Act, and could only consider matters of safety concerns in relation to drugs.
The Comstock Act remained largely unenforced for years, up until the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned the 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade. The recent ruling called into question that the FDA should consider reversing its decision to drop dispensing requirements in person.
