Democrats aim to thwart MAGA plot

Democrats aim to thwart a plot by Republicans to invoke an 1873 law to crack down on women's rights ahead of a possible second Donald Trump presidency.

U.S. Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have already cited the Comstock Law as a key element to blocking access to the abortion drug mifepristone, and the Biden administration and congressional Democrats are concerned that Republicans could use the 151-year-old federal law to block access to abortion altogether – unless they overhaul it, reported the Washington Post.

“There is a very clear, well-organized plan afoot by the MAGA Republicans to use Comstock as a tool to ban medication abortion, and potentially all abortions,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), who intends to introduce legislation Thursday to repeal the act's abortion provisions. “My job is to take that tool away.”

The Biden administration and Democratic congressional leadership argue the law applies only to individuals who mail abortion pills and other restricted items to someone who intends to "use them unlawfully," but the president's re-election campaign has warned the Comstock Act could be used to cut access to reproductive health care.

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“According to Trump advisors’ radical legal theory, they can use Comstock to prosecute anyone who uses the internet or U.S. mail to facilitate an abortion — and they can even prosecute women and health care providers,” said Morgan Mohr, the Biden campaign’s senior adviser for reproductive rights.

Trump was asked in April about invoking the Comstock Act to restrict abortion, and while he agreed it was a "very important issue" and promised to issue a "big statement" in the next two weeks, he still hasn't stated his position on the issue, but Alito and Thomas have signaled they're open to arguments about applying the law to restrict medication abortion.

“They both signaled their initial impression that Comstock challenges are legitimate — that Comstock is still good law,” said Greer Donley, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who focuses on abortion policy. “To me, this was about welcoming future lawsuits.”

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and other Democrats have signed on to Smith's legislation, and Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) will introduce a companion bill in the House.

“I’m not going to take a watch-and-see, laissez-faire attitude,” Balint said. “We can and we have to take Republicans at their word that they want a federal ban.”