Washington Post gift link
Justice Dept.: Despite bans, abortion pills may be mailed to any state
Legal opinion says existing federal law allows mail delivery because the sender cannot know if the recipient will use the medications illegally
The Justice Department has issued a legal opinion that the U.S. Postal Service may deliver
abortion pills to people in states that have banned or sharply restricted the procedure, saying that federal law allows the mailing of the pills because the sender cannot know for sure whether the recipient would use them illegally.
The Justice Department’s opinion — which was quickly condemned by antiabortion groups — does not change any state or federal laws. It hinges on the department’s interpretation of Section 1461 of the Comstock Act, a law originally passed in 1873 that governs how the Postal Service handles the delivery of contraception and items considered “obscene.”
The opinion notes that the two pills commonly used to perform abortions, mifepristone and misoprostol, also can be used in other ways, such as managing miscarriages or treating gastric ulcers. When ordered by mail, the intended recipient does not have to say how the pills will be used. Because of that, the Justice Department concluded, neither the sender nor postal workers are violating the Comstock Act by sending or delivering abortion pills in a state where the drugs cannot legally be used to terminate pregnancies in certain instances.
...Gostin described the issue of mailing abortion pills as a “live and important debate,” noting a push for conservative states and jurisdictions to impose harsh penalties on people who do so. For example,
Louisiana recently enacted a law that effectively made sending abortion pills to someone in the state a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
Federal law supersedes local law, however, and Gostin said the Justice Department’s opinion should mean that states cannot punish providers — or postal workers — for sending pills that can be used to terminate a pregnancy.
Now, I fully expect the Trump Justice Department to try to change the application of the Comstock Act, but that hasn't happened yet.