Ostensibly written and passed by Congress in 1873 in an effort to crack down on vice, the Comstock Act (named after its chief proponent, anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock) prohibited the sending of “Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use" through the US mail. It had the added, and intentional, effect of acting as a conspiracy to prevent women from obtaining information about contraception and birth control. The years after the Civil War had seen an explosion in Bible-based opposition to birth control, with the idea of sex between married couples (or anyone) for anything other than procreation seen as “unrestrained indulgence, without the risk of consequences.” These laws were struck down one by one thanks to various court cases, but some versions of Comstock anti-vice laws were on the books in dozens of states well into the 1960s.