Pro-Life Group Urges Trump Administration to Enforce 19th-Century Law Against Mail-Order Abortion Pills

A pro-life organization has released a report calling on the Trump administration to enforce a 19th-century federal law, the Comstock Act, to prohibit the mailing of abortion pills. The Restoration of America Foundation (ROAF) argues that current practices, including state shield laws and relaxed FDA regulations, facilitate the shipment of mifepristone into states with abortion restrictions.

According to the ROAF report, state shield laws adopted to protect abortion providers in Democratic-led states are being utilized to ship abortion pills into Republican-led states without in-person examinations or verification of the recipient. The report attributes the increase in mail-order abortions partly to FDA policy changes that removed the in-person dispensing requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic, a change that was later made permanent, allowing for telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery of abortion drugs.

ROAF estimates that approximately 15% of all U.S. abortions by the end of 2024 were medication abortions mailed to women in states with abortion restrictions. The group also cited an insurance claims analysis suggesting that serious adverse health events occurred in 10.9% of drug-induced abortions between 2017 and 2023, a rate they claim is significantly higher than reported on the FDA-approved label.

ROAF is urging Attorney General Todd Blanche to enforce the Comstock Act of 1873, which criminalizes the mailing of certain obscenity and abortion-related materials. The group believes this law, if enforced, would halt the nationwide mailing of abortion drugs. "The Comstock Act says it's illegal to put these drugs in the mail, so we're just asking them to enforce the law," ROAF CEO Doug Truax told Fox News Digital.

In December 2022, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel under the Biden administration issued an opinion stating that the Comstock Act does not prohibit mailing mifepristone or misoprostol if the sender does not intend for the recipient to use the drugs unlawfully. However, ROAF is asking the Trump administration to withdraw this opinion, investigate providers mailing the drugs, and enforce the 150-year-old law.

Truax expressed that the current situation is an "illegal action" and that enforcing the Comstock Act would "save hundreds of thousands of lives going forward." He believes this action could help regain momentum for the pro-life community, particularly heading into the next election cycle.