FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emily Phelps | press@indivisible.org
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WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, Indivisible Chief Campaigns Officer Sarah Dohl issued the following statement after Donald Trump refused to answer a question on whether he would use the Comstock Act to restrict abortion nationwide from NPR presidential campaign correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben. The Comstock Act is a long-unenforced 150+ year-old law that made it a federal crime to mail any "indecent" materials, including items "adapted or intended for producing abortion."
“This should be headline news. And the headlines should be in big block letters. Trump refusing to answer whether he would use a zombie law from 1873 to search people’s mail to restrict or ban abortion is an answer. The fact that the answer isn’t an easy, immediate ‘no’ means he’s keeping it on the table.
“Trump is listening to the anti-abortion extremists behind Project 2025, the hyper-conservative blueprint for a second Trump term, who have explicitly told reporters they want Trump to “‘keep [his] mouth shut’” about Comstock on the campaign trail precisely because they know how radical and unpopular it would be with voters. That’s the playbook he’s running: lie, evade, distance himself from a federal abortion ban, and ride the wave of misinformation back to the White House, where he can attack abortion access nationwide once more.
“We need to take Trump seriously on this. Trump proudly brags that he was responsible for overturning Roe vs. Wade. We can’t afford to find out how he would make things even worse.
“How the media covers this moment matters. Right now, media outlets have the voting public’s attention in a big way on the issue of abortion and what a Trump presidency will mean for Americans’ rights. If they keep enabling his lies and pivots on abortion, they’re going to end up complicit in a falsely-advertised Trump presidency — again — and our democracy may not survive this time. Everyone needs to start naming his deceit and extremism on the front page.
“Donald Trump will move to ban abortion if he is given the chance. It’s time for all of us to start acting like it.”
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