Departments

;

Anthony Comstock

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

  • 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. 

  • 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.