Comstock law
The Comstock law, enacted in 1873, is a federal statute that prohibited the use of the U.S. mail to send sexually suggestive materials, including literature on birth control and abortion. Named after moral reformer Anthony Comstock, who played a significant role in its passage, the law aimed to suppress what was considered obscene content. Under the law, offenders faced severe penalties, including substantial fines and lengthy jail sentences. Comstock, appointed as a special agent of the U.S. Postal Service, aggressively enforced the law, leading to the destruction of vast quantities of materials he deemed obscene. This legislation significantly restricted access to information about sexuality and reproductive health, impacting the efforts of women's rights activists and authors. Over the years, the interpretation and enforcement of the Comstock law have evolved, particularly regarding First Amendment rights. While modern postal authorities continue to regulate the distribution of obscene materials, their focus has shifted primarily to child and violent pornography. The law's legacy remains relevant today, especially in discussions around reproductive rights and censorship.
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Comstock law
THE LAW: Federal law that amended postal regulations to enforce a prohibition against using the mail to send sexually suggestive material, including birth-control information
SIGNIFICANCE: The most restrictive obscenity statute ever passed by Congress, the Comstock law limited the availability of even mild forms of pornography until the courts expanded First Amendment protections during the 1950’s.
The late-nineteenth-century moral reformer Anthony Comstock was a New York postal official who came to national prominence for his anti-obscenity crusade. In 1873, he helped to form what became the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Together with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), he lobbied the U.S. Congress to enact more effective laws to prohibit the distribution of what he regarded as immoral materials through the U.S. mail. Congress responded by passing the Act for the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles for Immoral Use. The law was afterward popularly dubbed the Comstock law.
President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill on March 3, 1873, and appointed Comstock as a voluntary “special agent” of the U.S. Postal Service with special enforcement powers. The Comstock law made it a federal offense to use the mails to sell or otherwise distribute any obscene printed or pictorial material, as well as all drugs and articles designed to prevent human contraception or to cause abortions. First offenders faced jail terms ranging from six months to five years and fines ranging from one hundred to two thousand dollars. Repeat offenders could be fined up to ten thousand dollars and jailed for as long as ten years. Fines collected by the federal government were shared with Comstock’s Society for the Suppression of Vice.
At the end of his first year on the job, Comstock reported that he had seized and destroyed nearly 200,000 obscene pictures, seventy tons of books, and tens of thousands of condoms, along with more than thirty thousand boxes of substances alleged to be aphrodisiacs. Over the years, he used his special powers to prosecute thousands of people who used the mail to distribute what he defined as obscene materials.
Women’s rights reformers ran afoul of the Comstock law when they attempted to mail information on sexuality, birth control, and abortion. In 2024, the Biden Administration's Department of Justice issued a statement indicating that the Comstock Act only applies when the sender intends for the material or drug to be used for an illegal abortion. However, future administrations may interpret the law differently and use it to restrict abortion rights.
In the past, because of the Comstock law, authors were afraid to write on sensitive subjects, and book publishers were more cautious about what they published. Modern postal authorities still have the power to prevent the distribution of obscene materials through the mail, but they tend to focus their censorship efforts on child pornography and violent pornography.
Bibliography
Beisel, Nicola Kay. Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Boyer, Paul S. Purity in Print: The Vice-Society Movement and Book Censorship in America. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968.
Engelman, Peter C. A History of the Birth Control Movement in America. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2011. Print.
Felix, Mabel, Laurie Sobel, and Aline Salgonicoff. "The Comstock Act: Implications for Abortion Care Nationwide." KFF, Women's Health Policy, 15 Apr. 2024, www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/the-comstock-act-implications-for-abortion-care-nationwide/. Accessed 25 June 2024.
Mackey, Thomas C. Pornography on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws, and Documents. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2002.
Semonche, John E. Censoring Sex : A Historical Journey through American Media. Lanham: Rowman, 2007. Digital file.