The history of women’s reproductive rights in America is long and twisted, with many different branches and roots. The modern struggle, however, seems to have begun with the passage of the Comstock Act in 1873. Anthony Comstock (1844– 1915) was a U.S. postal inspector in New York, a fervent and activist Christian—some would call him a fanatic—and one of the leaders of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Comstock, a Civil War veteran, was fixated on eliminating obscene literature and pornography, but his definition of these categories was unusually broad. He took aim at all manner of items that could be considered sexual, but he also crusaded against birth control and extramarital sex, all of which had deep roots in American society. In 1873 Comstock began a concerted campaign in Congress for a law that would allow the federal government to police American sexuality. The key forces in this crusade would be the Post Office and the U.S. court system. The Comstock Act, which was revised and strengthened over the next two decades, eventually allowed postal inspectors the right to bar certain materials, including contraceptives or literature about contraceptive and sexual practices, from the mail, going as far as allowing postal inspectors to open private mail.