John,

Last week, the Arizona state Supreme Court upheld a near-total abortion ban from 1864. This rollback of our fundamental rights is totally horrifying—and a similar threat is looming nationally.

We need to talk about the Comstock Act, an antiquated law that is still on the books and could be used to decimate abortion access nationwide.

A radical interpretation of the Act could effectively ban all abortion care in the United States by criminalizing the shipping of any abortion-related materials, including medication and medical equipment.

And as a federal law, the Comstock Act would supersede all state-level protections, threatening to criminalize those that help patients access care.

We know that state and local officials are on the frontlines of this issue, and that’s exactly why we work to elect pro-choice community leaders. But if Comstock is dredged up, they’d be forced to legislate under national laws from over a century ago. If overturning Roe pushed our rights back by 50 years, allowing Comstock to be enforced would push them back by over 100.

And let’s be clear: if Donald Trump wins the presidency and Comstock is still on the books, he could effectively end abortion without signing a single bill; he would simply direct his Department of Justice to enforce this zombie law.

We cannot allow that to be a possible scenario. It is long past time for Congress to repeal the Comstock Act, disarming an explosive threat to our reproductive freedom.