How Hobby Lobby Could Be Trump’s Reproductive Rights Wrecking Ball
If the Supreme Court reanimates Comstock, it could effectively green-light a ban on some methods of contraception, all without overturning Griswold. “To the extent that the court would literally have a huge shitstorm on his hands were it to overrule yet another precedent, and one as high-profile as Griswold, yeah, this is a great interim measure,” Murray said. “Once you normalize a world without contraception, then maybe it’s a lot easier to actually overrule Griswold.”
Should a Trump administration cite Comstock to ban the mailing of emergency contraception and IUDs, advocates could appeal, but it’s an open question whether this Supreme Court would stop him. University of Michigan law professor Leah Litman sounded quite skeptical during a recent appearance on Alex Wagner Tonight, and connected it back to the 2014 ruling. “The Supreme Court in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell essentially said that some employers were entitled to believe, and then act on their belief, that some forms of contraception were abortifacients and therefore did not have to offer that form of health insurance coverage to their employees,” Litman said. “So the seeds have already been planted and they are just waiting, again, for the next Republican president, knowing that the Republican Supreme Court will let them get away with basically anything to test the limits of the law and try to bring a federal abortion ban to life without having to enact it into law.”
Wagner responded, “That’s why Kamala Harris was in Minnesota today. You could be in a blue state with Democrats controlling the state, have all the protections you think you need, but it matters who’s sitting in the White House.” It’s true that, on Comstock, it matters who the president is. And when the president is Joe Biden, an octogenarian staring down a too-close-for-comfort rematch against the man who could make a national abortion ban happen, more needs to be done. It’s time to drive a stake through the heart of this zombie ban by repealing it—if that fails, Democrats would have at least let voters know that Comstock exists, and that Republicans are more than happy to keep it around.