Sen. Tina Smith’s introduction of a bill to change the Comstock Act on Thursday was the culmination of more than a year of behind-the-scenes debates between Democrats and abortion rights groups over how to prevent the Trump administration from enacting a nationwide abortion ban.
But it didn’t resolve the fears that any action on the 19th-century law could do more damage than good.
Democratic lawmakers, congressional sources and others involved in the discussions told NOTUS that the bill was ultimately introduced despite internal disagreement among pro-abortion rights Democrats on the Hill and in the administration over whether it was necessary. The central question was not just whether the Comstock Act as-is could be used to ban abortion — the Biden administration and many Democrats say that it can’t — but whether that mattered if they knew a second Trump administration would try. “I fully agree with the administration’s position … that it’s illegal to use Comstock to ban abortion,” Smith told NOTUS on Thursday. “However, I can see, as can everybody else, that the extreme right-wing MAGA Republicans have a road map for using Comstock to do exactly that, and so, as a legislator, it’s my job to do everything I can to take that tool away from them.”