U.S. Sen. Tina Smith continued her broadside against an obscure federal law over the weekend that she says could allow future Republican presidents to outlaw abortion nationally.
The 1873 Comstock Act bans the mailing of anything "lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile," which abortion advocates say could be used to limit the sales of mifepristone, a drug used to end pregnancies. During a weekend interview on ABC's "This Week," Smith pushed back against former President Donald Trump's assurances that he believes abortion policies are best made at the state level.
"American women aren't going to be conned by Donald Trump and his comments about abortion," Smith told anchor George Stephanopoulos.
The former president has boasted about his role in the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. Trump appointed three justices during his four years in the White House, leading to a 6-3 conservative majority on the nation's highest court.
In the years since, several states have severely limited access to abortion. Most recently, Arizona's Supreme Court upheld a nearly 160-year-old law that dictates a near-total ban on the medical procedure. Smith pointed to Trump's boasts as linked to that and other restrictions.
"That is what has caused all of this chaos and cruelty to the 1 in 3 American women who live in states where abortion is now basically banned," Smith said.
Democrats have made abortion access a pillar of their electoral strategy this year as state restrictions put the issue front and center for voters. Vice President Kamala Harris made history by visiting a St. Paul Planned Parenthood in March, becoming the highest-ranking elected official to tour a facility that performs abortions.
"Please do understand that when we talk about a clinic such as this, it is absolutely about health care and reproductive health care, so everyone get ready for the language: uterus," Harris said during her visit. "That part of the body needs a lot of medical care, people."
Smith and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison recently offered their support to an effort that would repeal the Comstock Act, noting that U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas raised the obscure law in their oral arguments of a Texas case that could limit access to mifepristone.
Smith plans to introduce legislation that would repeal the act after the court's ruling. But she noted the repeal would be unlikely to pass if Republicans hold the House majority in November.
Smith ended her interview with Stephanopoulos by contrasting Trump's and President Biden's stances on the issue.
"You have Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who are fighting to protect people's freedom, and Donald Trump, who's responsible for taking it away," Smith said.