Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/29/republicans-ask-scotus-to-limit-womens-access-to-health-care-further.html
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The Comstock Act? The fucking Comstock Act?!
“Prithee, Goody Boebert, hast thou burned witches this day?”
“Aye, Goodman Cornyn, threescore, may it please the eternal God-Emperor!”
It’d almost be funny if it weren’t for the fact that it’s the actual plan.
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Fuckers
eta: I guess the internets don’t know my thoughts, so this comment was directed at the pathetic, cowardly republican legislators that not only don’t do their job, but cravenly ask others to do it for them so they can avoid any possible consequences of their (in)actions. As someone who was raised to believe one should hold the courage of one’s convictions, it’s infuriating to find a congress full of people without a shred of courage or conviction.
Fuckers
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Doesn’t that one also ban contraceptives?
Yes, that’s the one.
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So a minority group (of wackos) in the legislative branch is asking the judicial branch to make a law because there’s no way in hell it would ever get passed via the legislative branch and signed into law by the executive branch.
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Want some pollyanna among this utterly nightmarish knuckle-dragging atavistic political behavior…? They’re rapidly shedding any support/voters from their previously non-lunatic factions. They can’t win, at least the popular vote, with such undeniable proof of their brutally vile misogynist efforts to clamp down on what was established bodily rights.
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Hm. Comstock seems about shackling the US Postal system.
As Ash would say, “Say hello to the 21st century! Yeah!”
What if all the things that Comstock tries to restrict were sent via FedEx or other private companies? Where’s their legislative overreach then?
Not that I trust those private companies, but they’ve got money, influence and lawyers, so let’s make it their problem too.
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It’s no longer about the rule of law. It’s about what accomplishes their goal. If these companies stand in their way, they’ll sudden give a shit about using the power of the government. Just like they’re trying to pass laws that make women second class citizens and ban trans people from existing.
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The Venn diagram of people arguing that the public MUST have firearms to protect against government overreach and the people calling, begging even, for government overreach, is a single overlapping circle. FML
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The Comstock Act is about banning abortion, contraception, and “porn” (i.e. anything that suggests sex exists), and even knowledge of abortion, contraception and porn. It is also preventing the distribution of said material over any appreciable distance, and in some instances, such as in DC, possession of these materials.
If this works, it will be applied to the internet and internet porn, and probably to cable TV and broadcast TV. It is the nuclear option that is giving the Gilead arm of the Republican Party an enormous hardon, since it can be so broadly applied.
This is the end game: a law that they can use to impose their morality on the country “We’re just enforcing this law, America approves because it was never repealed” and the end of democracy so the “rubes” can’t vote them out when PornHub and OnlyFans goes dark.
Thanks @smulder and
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They haven’t for the last several decades, and yet here we are. It is not enough to just win. This needs to be the landslide 2020 was not. They need to be cast out, root and branch. MAGAts have shown their true colors and I will not allow anyone who supports them to plead ignorance at this point. They have said they will eliminate LGBTQ, eliminate women as fully realized humans and revert to breeding stock, put minorities “back in their place.” Anyone who supports them, supports this shit as well. There is no room for complacency. “Losing” obviously is not sufficient. They need to cleaned out entirely. Notin the House, not in the Senate, not in the state house, school board, not for dog catcher. They are treasonous, bigoted, Nazi-loving assholes with no place in our society. Vote, get your family to vote, get your friends to vote, get them registered, and vote blue. Even if you are in a “red” state, it matters. GA showed us that last time around. Even TX is purple if everyone were to vote. No excuses, no bothsidesing, no rationalizing about “it doesn’t matter.” It does and it is on us to protect our country, our kids and our world. JUST DO IT
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Which is why the cowards and opportunitists cheat and game the system using mechanisms like gerrymandering, the Electoral College, deceptive referendum questions, and ratf*cking operations (e.g. robocalls). This one isn’t a usual cheat, but it’s a cheat none-the-less.
70% of the country is completely turned off by the current demands of social conservatism, but the GOP simply can’t win without pandering to the Know-Nothing 27%. Cheating is their only option.
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Does it not cover ALL delivery services too? I recall a few months back that drug suppliers were hesitant to send abortion mixes via ANY carrier.
(Texas and other Gilead states) seemed to have some Federal law up their sleeves - Comstock rings a bell.
Even if you hire someone to take meds from factory and bring to your door, that could still fall under the act. I guess you could get it yourself?
Waiting for trending Tik Toks on how to make an abortion cocktail with 5 simple ingredients you can find around the house.
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The initial Comstock law only applied to the US Postal Service. A later act applied to common carriers, like the railways, and companies like FedEx are common carriers, but… the laws around common carriers and the exceptions seem to be a fractal swamp. It’s a question for people who specialize in that area of law.
The religious reich’s intent is to make various things illegal, but they’re being lazy by using a zombie law rather than passing a new purpose-built one. Because:
- They can’t.
- It’s a shortcut.
- They don’t want to take the personal heat by having their names attached to new legislation.
Pick any or all.
And the Comstock laws were lazy laws to begin with. They didn’t make various things illegal, just the transportation and delivery of them. It amounts to the same thing, but it’s brittle so long as the courts matter.
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And sex education books or any other literature which could be interpreted as providing guidance for avoiding pregnancy. This broadly could include phone apps, computer programs, internet sites, medical textbooks, fiction, non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies…the list is endless. Movies and televised programs could fall under this also if they are subtitled. The Bible also has passages.
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Is there any relationship whatsoever between the FDA approval process and the Comstock laws(even if their constitutionality were impeccable)?
I’d assume that, as a matter of practice, there wouldn’t be a lot of submissions for authorization for drugs that are basically impossible to market because of other legal restrictions; but in terms of the actual FDA IND and NDA review processes and approval standards is there something preventing them from approving a drug that can’t be interstate shipped?
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I recommend this book on Comstock.
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