Democrats make election-year push to undo ban on mailed abortion pills

Democrats are bringing an 1873 law that bans the mailing of abortion-related materials into the spotlight as the party makes access to the procedure central to their election messaging.

The Comstock Act was enacted to ban people from sending anything “obscene, lewd or lascivious” in the mail, including “any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring an abortion.” Even though the act has laid dormant for decades, Democrats have warned that a future Republican president could use the law to shut down abortion access across the country.