CONGRESSMAN PAT RYAN INTRODUCES LANDMARK LEGISLATION THAT BLOCKS TRUMP'S PLAN TO IMPOSE A NATIONWIDE ABORTION BAN

June 20, 2024
Press Release

Congressman Pat Ryan Introduces Landmark Legislation That Blocks Trump’s Plan to Impose a Nationwide Abortion Ban

The Comstock Act, originally passed in 1873, is an archaic law still on the books that Trump and his allies intend to weaponize to criminalize abortion and reproductive health care

Project 2025, Trump’s policy playbook for a potential second term, explicitly directs the use of portions of the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide and impose criminal penalties on women and doctors; more than 70% of Americans are opposed to the Comstock Act 

Ryan’s legislation, the Stop Comstock Act, led by Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) in the Senate, would repeal that section of the law, preventing any future President from using the Comstock Act to unilaterally ban abortion

KINGSTON, NY  –  Today, Congressman Ryan joined colleagues in both the House and Senate to introduce the “Stop Comstock Act,” landmark legislation which would block Trump or any other far-right President from unilaterally imposing a nationwide abortion ban. The Comstock Act, originally passed in 1873, is an archaic law still on the books that Trump and his allies intend to weaponize to criminalize abortion and reproductive health care. Project 2025, Trump’s policy playbook for a potential second term, explicitly directs the use of portions of the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide and impose criminal penalties on women and doctors, a position deeply out of touch with the more than 70% of Americans that are opposed to the Comstock Act.  

“Two years after the devastating Dobbs decision, far-right extremists continue to escalate their attacks on reproductive freedom. Trump now has a detailed playbook to weaponize an archaic law from 1873 that would impose a nationwide abortion ban and criminalize women and doctors providing life-saving care. This is a hidden ticking time-bomb that must be immediately defused,” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “The stakes could not be higher, and the choice could not be clearer – without this new legislation, Donald Trump and his anti-freedom allies could impose an abortion ban in New York on his first day in office. As long as these extremists continue their campaign to rip away reproductive rights, we’ll continue our fight to protect them.”

“The Comstock Act is a 150-year-old zombie law banning abortion that’s long been relegated to the dustbin of history. But extremist Republicans and Trump judges have seized upon the idea of misusing Comstock to bypass Congress and strip women nationwide of their reproductive freedoms,” said Senator Tina Smith. “When MAGA Republicans say they intend to use the Comstock Act to control women’s decisions and enact a backdoor national abortion ban, we should believe them. Now that Trump has overturned Roe, a future Republican administration could try to misapply this 150-year-old Comstock law to deny American women their rights, even in states where abortion rights are protected by state law. This is why I’m introducing legislation to repeal Comstock. It is too dangerous to leave this law on the books; we cannot allow MAGA judges and politicians to control the lives of American women.”

The “Stop Comstock Act,” is endorsed by a number of leading pro-choice groups, including:

  • Planned Parenthood Federation of America
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • Physicians for Reproductive Health
  • Center for Reproductive Rights
  • National Women’s Law Center
  • Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL) 
  • Take Back the Court Action Fund

The other House leads of the bill are Rep. Balint, Rep. Escobar, Rep. Scanlon, Rep. Watson Coleman, and Rep Sherrill. 

Project 2025 is a collaboration between the Heritage Foundation and other allied Trump groups to establish the policy platform for a potential second Trump term. Project 2025 has tried to hide its influence, with anti-abortion activist and Trump lawyer Jonathan Mitchell even telling other far-right groups to “keep quiet” about their work to implement a national abortion ban. In recent weeks, House Democrats launched a Stop Project 2025 Task Force to educate the public on the existential risks posed by these proposals. 

Much like the recent use of an antiquated 1864 law in Arizona to impose an abortion ban, the Comstock Act of 1873 is only now being unearthed as a tool to impose a national abortion ban. Prominent proponents of the law have claimed that they can implement a total abortion ban without even passing additional legislation, by using the Comstock Act. Earlier this year, Justices Thomas and Alito both called out the Comstock Act by name, with Justice Alito saying it is a “prominent” provision.

Earlier this year, the Republican Study Committee, which includes nearly 80% of House Republicans, proposed a national 15-week abortion ban. House Republicans have repeatedly voted to strip reproductive freedom from women service members and veterans. House Republicans have spent the 118th Congress introducing measures to further restrict access to abortion, limit information on reproductive healthcare, and support anti-choice causes. 131 House Republicans sponsor the Life at Conception Act, a total national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life that would also that would also threaten to erode access to IVF and infertility treatment healthcare. Late last year, a majority of House Republicans supported a measure that would ban the mailing of abortion medication nationwide. 

Congressman Pat Ryan has built an extensive record of fighting to protect women’s reproductive rights in only his first term in Congress. He introduced the “Protecting Reproductive Freedom Act” to safeguard women’s right to access abortion medication and the authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to certify the safety of medications. Ryan introduced the bill when a Texas Court ruled to restrict access to the safe and effective abortion drug mifepristone. On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine doesn’t have standing to challenge the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, leaving access to the medication unchanged. However, the direct challenge to abortion pills and their accessibility has not been resolved, and could be revived in a different case. The ruling was not on the substance of the case, but on a procedural ruling that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case

Congressman Ryan sits on the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus and is a proud co-cosponsor of the following bills:

  • The Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act
  • The Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act
  • The Access to Reproductive Care for Servicemembers Act
  • The Right to Contraception Act
  • The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023
  • The Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act of 2023
  • The Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act
  • The Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (HER) Act to eliminate the global gag rule on abortion healthcare

In 2023, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville held up over 400 confirmations and promotions for military leaders in protest of the Department of Defense’s policy to support reproductive healthcare for women service members. Congressman Ryan spearheaded an initiative to end Senator Tuberville’s relentless undermining of military readiness and national security, introducing a resolution demanding that he end his dangerous holds. Senator Tuberville backed down and lifted his holds in December.

Congressman Ryan has relentlessly fought House Republicans’ repeated attempts to use military and defense legislation to erode the reproductive freedoms of women veterans and service members, recently voting against House Republicans’ hijacking of the National Defense Authorization Act to strip women service members of access to abortion care

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