Anthony Comstock 
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5/21/2023
Texas Judge Revives Anthony Comstock's Crusade Against Reproductive Freedom
by Bill Greer
The career of Anthony Comstock shows what can happen when a highly committed moral crusader gains traction in the political system. His rehabilitation in the contemporary abortion war is cause for concern.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
4/12/2023
Judge Kacsmaryk Misread the Comstock Act
by Lauren MacIvor Thompson
The initial draft of the 1873 anti-obscenity legislation, which banned mailing information about and devices or medicines intended to induce abortion, had an exemption for physicians, and later court precedents interpreted the act as if that exemption were part of the law. Judge Kacsmaryk has ignored this legal history in his ruling.
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SOURCE: Mother Jones
4/17/2023
Could the Comstock Act Help the Right Ban Abortion Nationwide?
Historian Lauren MacIvor Thompson explains how the law, which hasn't been enforced in 50 years, is being considered as a tool to secure a nationwide abortion ban by a group of Republican Attorneys General.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
4/9/2023
After Texas Ruling on Abortion Medication, Get Ready to Hear More About the Comstock Act
by Mary Ziegler
The ruling of Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk invoked a reading of the 150 year-old anti-obscenity law to claim that the distribution of mifepristone by mail is illegal.
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SOURCE: The Hill
3/3/2023
At its 150th Anniversary, the Comstock Law is Relevant Again
by Jonathan Friedman and Amy Werbel
Anthony Comstock drew on elite connections to give himself near unilateral power to confiscate "obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, or immoral" materials —terms he was free to define on his own—and prosecute people for possessing them. Right-wing politicians seem to be inspired by the example.
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3/5/2023
The Defiant Woman at the Center of New York's First Abortion Battle
by Alan J. Singer
Carolyn Ann Trow Lohman, better known as Madame Restell, defied the authority of the medical establishment and moral crusaders to help women obtain abortions. Justice Alito's misuse of history to justify the Dobbs decision shows the need to remember her.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
7/6/2022
Conservatives Attacking Pornography Carry on History of Politicized Moral Panics
by Kelsy Burke
Calls by J.D. Vance and other conservative politicians for bans on pornography echo the tactics and the failures of America's first anti-obscenity crusader, Anthony Comstock.
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SOURCE: Atlas Obscura
4/22/2022
The 19th Century Woman's Secret Guides to Birth Control
Women have always tried to share information enabling them to control their reproductive health, and others have always tried to stop them. Secrecy, coded language and misdirection are historical puzzles to untangle, say Andrea Tone, Naomi Rendina, Lauren Thompson and Donna Drucker.
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SOURCE: NPR
7/7/2021
How An Anti-Vice Crusader Sabotaged The Early Birth Control Movement
Author Amy Sohn discusses her new book on the life and work of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, who's work resulted in the restriction of contraception for a century.
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