Taylor Lorenz’s Power User They Want to Ban Abortion Info Online
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Mar 2, 2026 Sarah Phillips, a digital human rights organizer at Fight for the Future, fights for free expression and online access to reproductive health information. She unpacks the history of censorship from the Comstock Act to modern legal attacks. Conversations cover how moral panics and laws like SESTA/FOSTA threaten sex ed, abortion funds, secure messaging, and efforts to repeal Section 230.
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Comstock Act Framed Reproductive Speech As Obscene
- The Comstock Act set a 19th century precedent treating contraceptive and abortion information as 'obscene' and criminal to distribute by mail.
- Taylor Lorenz and Sarah Phillips link that law directly to modern online censorship efforts that target reproductive health speech.
Early Web Communities Triggered The CDA Moral Panic
- Early internet forums circulated sex ed, queer support, and abortion information, prompting moral panic groups to push for censorship via the Communications Decency Act.
- That Act later produced Section 230, which shaped subsequent debates over online reproductive speech.
Moralist Groups Shaped Early Internet Law
- Conservative morality groups like Morality in Media and the Family Research Council shaped early tech regulation, framing reproductive content as 'indecent' to justify restrictions.
- Portions of the Telecommunications Act even criminalized discussing abortion online before Reno v. ACLU struck parts down.