Long-Dormant Obscenity Law Threatens Access to Abortion

Anti-abortion groups are arguing a 150-year-old federal law against lewdness can be used to restrict mailing abortion pills, even to states where abortion is legal.
Conservative judges and the Biden administration are facing pressure to reinterpret the law in ways that could curb abortion rights.
The Comstock Act banned mailing "obscene, lewd or lascivious" materials and allowed up to five years in prison, though it has rarely been enforced in recent decades.
Some lawmakers and legal experts support repealing the Comstock Act to prevent it from being used to limit abortion access.
Abortion opponents want the law applied even in states where abortion is legal and are pushing for penalties against mailing abortion pills.