What Is the Comstock Act
The Comstock Act is an 1873 federal law that bans sending “obscene” material and any “article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion” through the U.S. mail or by private carrier. It is still on the books at 18 U.S.C. 1461 and 1462. It went unenforced against abortion for about 50 years after Roe v. Wade, and since Dobbs overturned Roe in 2022 it has become the center of a fight over mailing abortion pills.
A Victorian anti-vice law is still enforceable text. Courts and Congress narrowed most of the 1873 statute over the next century. The line about mailing abortion articles never went away.
Key facts
- 18 U.S.C. 1461 still bans mailing “every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.”
- A first offense carries up to 5 years in prison, and each later offense up to 10.
- A 2022 Justice Department opinion says mailing abortion pills is legal unless the sender intends unlawful use.
- 28% of U.S. abortions in 2025 began with a telehealth visit, most with pills sent by mail (#WeCount).
Almost nobody thought about this law for decades. It was a relic of a censorship campaign most people had forgotten, but the text outlived the campaign, and that surviving text is what makes the current fight possible.
What the Comstock Act Bans and Whether the Law Still Applies
The Comstock Act is still in effect. Its ban on mailing abortion articles has never been repealed, though the federal government is not enforcing it against abortion pills (more on that below). The operative language is short and specific. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Act on March 3, 1873, and it covered four kinds of things: obscene publications, contraceptives, articles for abortion, and a catch-all of “immoral” items. Today, section 1461 governs the mail and section 1462 governs private carriers, and both still list articles “for producing abortion.”
The penalty is real: up to 5 years in prison for a first offense and up to 10 for each one after (Cornell LII). What the words reach is the open question, and the four original categories fared very differently over time.
What the Comstock Act covered in 1873 and what stands now
Source: Cornell LII; Contraception Mail Prohibition Removal Act, Pub. L. 91-662
How the Comstock Act Was Used and Narrowed
The Comstock Act put real people in prison before anyone narrowed it. Anthony Comstock, the law’s namesake, worked as a postal inspector and was credited with more than 3,600 arrests. Ida Craddock, a writer, was convicted in 1902 for mailing a marriage manual called The Wedding Night, and on October 16, 1902, the day before she was due at a federal penitentiary, she took her own life and left a public note condemning Comstock. In August 1914, Margaret Sanger was indicted under the federal law for her paper The Woman Rebel.
If this history is heavy to read, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text at 988, any time.
The law ran from censorship in 1873 to the Craddock case in 1902 and the Sanger indictment in 1914. Courts and Congress narrowed it in 1936, 1965, and 1971. Roe left its abortion line dormant from 1973 until Dobbs in 2022.
- Congress passes the Comstock Act Grant signs it March 3. Anthony Comstock enforces it as a postal inspector.
- Ida Craddock convicted for a mailed manual She dies by suicide the day before reporting to federal prison.
- Margaret Sanger indicted under the Act Charged for her paper The Woman Rebel. The charges were later dropped.
- One Package lets doctors receive contraceptives The Second Circuit says the Act does not bar medical practice.
- Griswold protects contraception The Court recognizes a privacy right covering married couples.
- Congress strikes the contraception language The abortion-mailing provisions stay on the books.
- Roe leaves the abortion line dormant The conduct it targeted becomes constitutionally protected.
- Dobbs revives the dormant text Overturning Roe reopens the old words as an enforcement theory.
Sources: Cornell LII; Pub. L. 91-662; Supreme Court; KFF.
From the 1873 censorship law to the Dobbs-era revival: 1873: Congress passes the Comstock Act (Grant signs it March 3. Anthony Comstock enforces it as a postal inspector.). 1902: Ida Craddock convicted for a mailed manual (She dies by suicide the day before reporting to federal prison.). 1914: Margaret Sanger indicted under the Act (Charged for her paper The Woman Rebel. The charges were later dropped.). 1936: One Package lets doctors receive contraceptives (The Second Circuit says the Act does not bar medical practice.). 1965: Griswold protects contraception (The Court recognizes a privacy right covering married couples.). 1971: Congress strikes the contraception language (The abortion-mailing provisions stay on the books.). 1973: Roe leaves the abortion line dormant (The conduct it targeted becomes constitutionally protected.). 2022: Dobbs revives the dormant text (Overturning Roe reopens the old words as an enforcement theory.).
1873: Congress passed the Comstock Act, and President Grant signed it on March 3. Anthony Comstock enforced it for decades.
1902: Ida Craddock was convicted for mailing The Wedding Night and died by suicide on October 16, the day before she was due at federal prison.
1914: Margaret Sanger was indicted under the Act in August for The Woman Rebel. The federal charges were later dropped. Her 1916 arrest for opening a Brooklyn birth-control clinic, and the 30 days she served in 1917, came under New York state law.
1936: In United States v. One Package, the Second Circuit held that the Act did not stop doctors from receiving contraceptives by mail, the first major narrowing.
1965: In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional privacy right that protected married couples’ use of contraception.
1971: Congress removed the contraception language through the Contraception Mail Prohibition Removal Act, which took effect in 1971. For almost a century, the federal law had made mailing birth control a crime. The abortion-mailing provisions stayed.
1973: Roe v. Wade left the abortion-mailing provisions dormant, since the conduct they targeted was now constitutionally protected. Our Roe v. Wade explainer covers what the ruling allowed and how it was narrowed before Dobbs.
2022: Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe, and the dormant text became an active enforcement theory for the first time in half a century.
Why the Comstock Act Is Back
The revival rests on one argument: that the statute’s plain words already ban mailing mifepristone, misoprostol, and abortion equipment everywhere, with no new law needed. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 made enforcement a stated goal. Its plan for the Justice Department lists a “Campaign to Enforce the Criminal Prohibitions in 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461 and 1462,” the two Comstock sections (KFF).
The opposite reading came from the Justice Department itself.
On December 23, 2022, the Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the law requires intent. The drugs have lawful uses, including miscarriage care, so mailing them is not a crime unless the sender intends them to be used illegally.
Section 1461 of title 18 of the U.S. Code does not prohibit the mailing of certain drugs that can be used to perform abortions where the sender lacks the intent that the recipient of the drugs will use them unlawfully.
Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, December 23, 2022
An Office of Legal Counsel opinion guides federal agencies but does not bind courts. As of September 24, 2026, the opinion is still posted on the Justice Department’s website with no notice that it has been withdrawn.
Where the courts have left the Comstock question
Source: Justice Department; Supreme Court; SCOTUSblog; Courthouse News Service
Justices Thomas and Alito raised the Comstock Act at oral argument in the 2024 case, but the Court decided it on standing without dissent. Comstock has not been the basis of any ruling since.
Where the Comstock Fight Stands in 2026
Verified September 29, 2026
- No federal prosecution. No one has been reported charged under the Comstock Act for mailing abortion pills since Dobbs.
- The 2022 opinion stands. The Justice Department has not posted any withdrawal of it.
- The new Justice Department leadership has signaled interest. Todd Blanche, who leads the department, told anti-abortion activists on a private call that it was working with HHS, the FDA and the White House on “permanent solutions,” and he has alluded to reviewing options to enforce the Comstock Act (Democracy Now, August 7, 2026).
- One justice has endorsed the broad reading. On May 14, 2026, Justice Thomas wrote in dissent that mailing mifepristone violates the Act (SCOTUSblog). Justice Alito also dissented.
- The repeal bills have stalled. The Stop Comstock Act, H.R. 2029 (146 cosponsors) and S. 951 (28 cosponsors), was referred to committee on March 11, 2025, with no action since (govinfo).
What it means for you. Today, the federal government is not prosecuting anyone under this law for mailing pills. That can change without Congress: a new Justice Department opinion or a court ruling adopting Thomas’s reading could reach senders in every state.
States have moved the other way. Guttmacher counts 23 states and D.C. with some shield-law protection for reproductive care, and eight that extend it to telehealth prescribers (Guttmacher).
Those laws have held so far. When a Texas court ordered New York doctor Margaret Carpenter to pay more than $100,000 for prescribing pills to a Texas patient, her county clerk refused to file the judgment, and on October 31, 2025, a New York judge ruled that the clerk had followed the state’s shield law (Texas Tribune). A state shield law cannot stop a federal prosecution, though, which is why the Comstock question matters to those same providers. The mifepristone explainer covers the court fight over the drug itself.
One 1873 Law Could Reach Every State
Because the statute was never repealed, whether abortion pills can be mailed may turn on how one 1873 law is read, not on any vote in Congress. A future Justice Department that adopted the broad reading could reach senders in states where abortion is legal, and the same pills are used for miscarriage care.
None of it is settled. The 2022 opinion, the shield laws, the repeal bills, and the courts’ silence on Comstock so far all keep the question open.
The Honest Dispute Over a Dormant Law
Both readings of the Comstock Act have serious people behind them. The two sides agree the law is still on the books, and that its fate depends on the Justice Department, the courts, and Congress.
The plain-language argument, made by Project 2025’s authors and by Justice Thomas in his May 2026 dissent, says courts should enforce statutes as written. The text bans mailing abortion articles and contains no exception for state law, and if the law is outdated, the remedy is for Congress to repeal it. On this view, 50 years without enforcement does not change what the words mean.
The intent-and-history argument comes from the 2022 Office of Legal Counsel opinion and many legal scholars. They say the statute has long been read to require intent of unlawful use, that the drugs have lawful uses, and that a broad reading would raise constitutional problems of its own.
We do not declare which reading is correct. Courts and Congress will decide that, and so far neither has.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Comstock Act still in effect?
Yes. Its ban on mailing any article “for producing abortion” is still law at 18 U.S.C. 1461 and 1462, with up to 5 years in prison for a first offense. The federal government is not enforcing it against abortion pills, and a 2022 Justice Department opinion says mailing them is legal unless the sender intends unlawful use.
Was the Comstock Act ever repealed?
No. Congress struck the contraception language in 1971, but the abortion-mailing language at 18 U.S.C. 1461 and 1462 remains. The Stop Comstock Act, which would repeal it, has sat in committee since March 11, 2025.
What did the Comstock laws do to birth control?
The 1873 law made it a federal crime to mail contraceptives. Courts let doctors receive them in 1936, the Supreme Court protected married couples’ use of contraception in Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965, and Congress removed the contraception language in 1971. It does not ban contraception today.
Could the Comstock Act ban abortion pills nationwide without Congress?
That is the contested theory. It would take a Justice Department willing to prosecute, or a court ruling adopting Justice Thomas’s reading. Neither has happened as of September 2026.
Does a state shield law protect against the Comstock Act?
No. Shield laws block other states’ courts and investigators. They cannot stop a federal prosecution.
What You Can Do
- If you rely on or provide telehealth abortion care, know your state’s protections. Eight states extend shield laws to telehealth. For legal questions, the Repro Legal Helpline (844-868-2812) is free and confidential.
- If you live in a shield-law state, ask legislators to keep those laws in place. Find your state legislators at Open States.
- Ask your senators and representative where they stand on enforcing the Act. Ask each one to say on the record whether they would support enforcing the Comstock Act against mailed abortion medication.
- Ask your members of Congress to cosponsor the Stop Comstock Act. H.R. 2029 and S. 951 would strike the abortion-mailing language from 18 U.S.C. 1461 and 1462. Use the letter and call script below.