Modern-Day ‘Comstocks’ Aim to Control Travel and Information in Bid to End Abortion

Mark Lee Dickson has rarely been home since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. As the director of Right to Life of East Texas, he’s been traveling extensively, aiming to set legal precedents against abortion by targeting those driving women out of state for the procedure.

From local meetings to rodeos, Dickson has been convincing lawmakers and citizens to create “sanctuaries for the unborn.” These ordinances often restrict access to abortion by targeting travel and waste disposal, potentially provoking lawsuits. “I find myself in a variety of different places, wherever the Lord takes me,” Dickson told States Newsroom.

Residents in rural areas often lack access to maternal care. Nonetheless, Dickson likens his mission to Batman’s vigilante quest, while reproductive justice organizers compare him to 19th-century anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock. Legal scholars say the Comstock Act didn’t focus on preserving fetal life, but that hasn’t stopped Dickson from pushing for its resurrection.

Two years after Roe’s demise, and with a presidential election approaching, the enforcement of the Comstock Act remains a real threat to abortion rights. Abortion providers argue that monitoring and policing have intensified, largely due to activists like Dickson, whose ordinances allow residents to sue those aiding abortions.

Through his Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn project, Dickson, along with former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan F. Mitchell, has helped pass around 80 ordinances across seven states. Mitchel also played a role in drafting Senate Bill 8, which largely banned abortion in Texas in 2021 by empowering citizens to sue abortion providers.

Legal experts assert that Anthony Comstock was more concerned with illicit sex and pornography. Yale Law Professor Reva Siegel noted, “The statute is a ban on obscenity, not the criminalization of health care.” Despite this, Dickson and Mitchell continue their campaign, backed by conservative think tanks and organizations like the Christian right law firm Alliance Defending Freedom.

Dickson aims to extend these ordinances to rideshare companies. He also hopes to use the Comstock Act to challenge state abortion-rights ballot initiatives. Mitchell, meanwhile, is defending Texas professors’ rights to penalize students for obtaining abortions, with cases cited in Comstock arguments.

Meanwhile, groups like Operation Rescue maintain an old-school presence at abortion clinics. They continue to apply surveillance tactics, filing public records requests for 911 calls and compiling reports on thousands of abortion providers.

Legal scholars argue that Comstock’s revival threatens democracy by suppressing freedom and promoting government censorship. “Revivalists hope to chill the exercise of rights already recognized in positive law,” said Siegel and Ziegler.

Opponents highlight the difficulty of enforcing Comstock, even with a partially willing Supreme Court. However, they stress that temporary enforcement could severely impact reproductive healthcare. Democrats have introduced a bill to repeal Comstock, although it faces an uphill battle before the election.

Harvard Law recently hosted ComstockCon, uniting historians, attorneys, and organizers against modern-day Comstocks. “Those eager rising modern-day Comstocks are in this fight for the long term,” said New Republic staff writer Melissa Gira Grant. She emphasized the need for solidarity within the reproductive justice movement.

No civil lawsuit has been filed under SB 8, but Dickson is currently in Amarillo pushing an ordinance to make high-trafficked roads illegal for interstate abortion-related travel. Despite local resistance, petitioners are still trying to get the ordinance on the ballot.

Amarillo’s significance lies in its local court, where anti-abortion lawyers have strategically filed lawsuits. Dickson views making it a sanctuary city as a way to strengthen their legal standing.

Lindsay London of the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance criticized using her city as a “strategic chess piece.” She believes the ordinance promotes a culture of fear. “Positing neighbor upon neighbor is not how we create healthy communities,” she said.

Elisha Brown contributed to this report.