ADVOCATES URGE SCHUMER TO HOLD FLOOR VOTE TO STOP COMSTOCK

Abortion rights and HIV/AIDS advocacy groups want to put anti-abortion senators on the record for their support of a nationwide abortion ban

NATIONWIDE (September 10, 2024) – Today, as reported in The Hill, Healthcare Across Borders (HCAB), Take Back the Court Action Fund, and a coalition of abortion rights and HIV/AIDS advocacy groups sent a letter to Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urging him to hold a Senate Floor vote on the Stop Comstock Act (S.4619) — a bill that would stop the far-right from resurrecting and misapplying a century-old law to criminalize abortion care and miscarriage treatment. Read the full letter here.

In interviews, and in the Project 2025 blueprint for a future Trump administration, right-wing extremists make it abundantly clear that they will misuse the Comstock Act of 1873 to ban abortion nationwide. In response, the groups are calling on Sen. Schumer to “hold a vote on the Stop Comstock Act at the earliest possible date, killing this zombie law once and for all, or, at the very least, putting Republicans on the record about their support for a backdoor national abortion ban.

“Trump’s daily flip-flopping and desperate attempts to create distance from his own anti-abortion record tell us two things: first, that he knows the American people don’t support his party’s crusade to ban abortion nationwide; and second, that he’s scared,” said Sarah Lipton-Lubet, president of Take Back the Court Action Fund. “But we all know where Trump and Republican lawmakers will land when push comes to shove. By calling for a vote, Senator Schumer can put these extremists on the record and show voters that Republicans will cut off abortion access for all of us as soon as they have the chance.”

“Right wing extremists are clear about using Comstock to ban abortion nationwide without having to take a single vote in Congress, but the right is also a threat to other kinds of essential care, including contraception, IVF, gender-affirming care, and HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. Given their lack of fidelity to law and precedence, they could also use Comstock to criminalize other forms of routine care, greatly exacerbating crises throughout the country,” said Jodi Jacobson, executive director of Healthcare Across Borders. “Forcing a vote on Comstock would put extremist Senators on the record, and create an opportunity for public education on the catastrophic consequences this archaic law poses to every person seeking care across the nation.”

"The stakes are too high to wait — we at Lawyers for Good Government proudly join our colleagues in calling on Sen. Schumer to hold a vote on the Stop Comstock Act at this crucial moment to defend our reproductive freedom,” said Alyssa Morrison, Senior Attorney — Civil Rights at Lawyers for Good Government. "Every day we keep such an overreaching law as the Comstock Act on the books in its current form is another day our government forfeits its responsibility to protect basic rights.”

“The radical right-wing effort to weaponize the Comstock Act and further restrict access to abortion and birth control medication must be stopped,” explained Shaunna Thomas, executive director at UltraViolet Action. “As long as Congress keeps Comstock on the books, right-wing extremists will have a powerful tool to control our lives. We urge the Senate to vote to repeal this archaic law before it can be used to undermine our access to health care.”

KEY FACTS:

Project 2025’s playbook “explicitly directs the [Department of Justice] to enforce Comstock against ‘providers and distributors’ of medication abortion,” a method now used in more than two-thirds of all abortions before 12 weeks gestation.
Earlier this year, 145 Republican members of Congress signed onto a brief asking the Supreme Court to cite the Comstock Act in order to deny people access to the abortion medication mifepristone.
Jonathan Mitchell, one of Trump’s personal lawyers and the co-author and legal defender of the law that cut off Texans’ access to abortion a year before the Dobbs decision, said outright that “We don’t need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books.”

Healthcare Across Borders, Take Back the Court Action Fund, and Ultraviolet Action recently released a memo detailing the threat of Comstock for abortion rights and other proven health interventions routinely attacked by the far-right, including gender-affirming care, contraception, HIV and AIDS prevention, STI treatment and education, and drug and addiction treatment. Read the full memo here to learn more.

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Healthcare Across Borders (HCAB) works to ensure everyone has full access to essential reproductive, sexual, and gender-affirming care regardless of zip code, and unencumbered by cost, discrimination, ideology, or stigma. HCAB works with clinicians, lawyers, human rights advocates, and concerned citizens to promote universal access to essential care by 1) supporting new and rapidly evolving models of care that better meet the needs of all people, including de-medicalization of care where appropriate; 2) advocating for effective harm reduction strategies wherever necessary; and 3) conducting public education on the dangers of criminalizing healthcare.

Take Back the Court Action Fund works to inform the public about the danger that the Supreme Court poses to rights and democracy, and advocates for court expansion — adding seats to the court — as the only strategy that will immediately rebalance and restore integrity to the institution after its theft by the right.