Every so often there will be a post somewhere about weird laws that remains on the books decades or centuries after they were passed. You can't walk a snake on a leash in Kansas is one of them. You're genuinely curious as to why those laws were passed.
The Comstock Act, on the other hand, was a notorious "Blue Law" that prevented any mailing of materials that could be deemed "obscene". While it was partly aimed at pornography, it also included information on reproduction, including abortifacients. (I've been slowly making my way through HBO's Boardwalk Empire, set in the 1920s, and a small subplot is trying to get a women's health clinic up and running with the Catholic Church censoring everything. Like you couldn't say "pregnant", you had to say "with child.")
The current battleground over abortion is medication abortions through mifepristone and similar drugs. Red states have been able to shutter clinics, but if women can order drugs through the mail, then are they even TRYING to oppress women?!
The Comstock Act is an embarrassment to a 21st century country, especially one that has a culture much more accepting of nudity, sex and foul language than the 19th. If Republicans and Talibangelicals want to run on banning porn along with mifepristone...be my guest.
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