Thomas More Society

The FACE Act, A Federal Law Intended To Protect Patients And Providers Against Anti-Abortion Violence And Harassment, Was Created In Direct Response To Violent Tactics Of Operation Rescue. “In 1994, Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) in response to the violence against abortion providers and patients heralded by Operation Rescue.” [Pro-Lies Directory, Equity Forward, accessed 4/16/24]

In His Capacity As A Board Member Of The Center For Medical Progress, Thomas More Society Represented Operation Rescue Director, Troy Newman, In The Case Of Illegally Captured Recordings Of Planned Parenthood Employees. [Planned Parenthood Federation of America v. Newman, Case No. 20-16068, 10/21/22]

Thomas More Society Defended Violent Anti-Abortion Activist Norman Weslin, Of The Notre Dame 88 As Well As The Lambs Of Christ, An Anti-Abortion Organization Specializing In Blockading Clinics. “When Father Norman Weslin, founder and head of the notorious anti-abortion ‘rescue’ group Lambs of Christ, died on May 16, the small handful of remembrances that were sent out in anti-choice circles reflected where he’d stood on the spectrum of the ‘pro-life’ movement: an extremist who lived in the swirl of the most violent faction of the cause, while professing that his was a nonviolent witness. […] And the Thomas More Society, a Christian legal defense group that represented Weslin as part of the ‘Notre Dame 88’ (a group of abortion protesters arrested in 2009) praised him as a visionary who was ‘ahead of his time’ in his promotion of nonviolent civil disobedience. […] Weslin’s lifetime example of ‘nonviolent’ protest, the Thomas More statement read, was now being used by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in their recent call for Catholics to engage in civil disobedience against the Obama administration’s HHS Health Care mandate.” [Religion Dispatches, 6/6/12]

Thomas More Society Represented A FACE Act Violator Harassing Visitors At A Denver-Based Planned Parenthood. “A judge Thursday denied the federal government’s request to keep a longtime anti-abortion protester from being able to stop cars and talk to drivers as they enter Denver’s Planned Parenthood center. U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer rejected the Justice Department’s argument that Kenneth Scott’s actions make it ‘unreasonably difficult’ for patients and employees to get to the clinic. ‘Great news,’ one of Scott’s lawyers, Peter Breen, said of Brimmer’s late-evening ruling.” [Denver Post, 1/25/12]

In United States of America v. Gallagher, et al., Thomas More Society Represented Six FACE Act Violators Who Blockaded An Abortion Clinic In Mount Juliet, Tennessee. “A Tennessee jury has convicted six anti-abortion protesters of violating federal laws after they blocked the entrance of a reproductive clinic outside Nashville nearly three years ago. […] Attorneys representing the defendants say they plan on appealing the convictions. The legal team has described the 2021 demonstration as a ‘peaceful life-affirming gathering’ and has accused the federal justice department of prosecuting ‘pro-life activists’ ever since the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 abortion decision. ‘This was a peaceful demonstration by entirely peaceable citizens — filled with prayer, hymn-singing, and worship — oriented toward persuading expecting mothers not to abort their babies,’ said Steve Crampton, an attorney with the Thomas More Society.” [Associated Press, 1/31/24]

• In September 2024, Gallagher Was Sentenced After Being Convicted For Federal Conspiracy Against Rights And FACE Act Offenses. “Chester Gallagher, the leader of a March 5, 2021, blockade of a Mount Juliet, Tennessee, reproductive health clinic was sentenced yesterday to 16 months in prison and three years of supervised release following his convictions for federal conspiracy against rights and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act offenses.” [U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release, 9/27/24]

In United States of America v. Mark Houck, Thomas More Society Represented A FACE Act Violator Accused Of Shoving An Abortion Clinic Escort. “A prominent Catholic antiabortion activist accused of shoving a Planned Parenthood volunteer was acquitted Monday of charges that he instigated the encounter to intimidate workers at the organization’s Center City clinic. […] Right-wing media had rallied around Houck’s defense, citing his prosecution as another instance of what they described as the Biden administration’s using the Justice Department against those with opposing political views. The Chicago-based Catholic public-interest law firm the Thomas More Society sent attorneys to take up his case.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/30/23]

• Breen Called The Case An “Intimidation Tactic” By The Biden-Harris Administration’s DOJ. “‘This case has been nothing but an intimidation tactic by the Biden Justice Department,’ said Peter Breen, the Thomas More Society attorney who represented Houck in court along with local defense lawyer Brian McMonagle. ‘This matter never should have drawn the attention of the Department of Justice. And our hope here is that message was sent to Washington, D.C. to stop this harassment.’” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/30/23]

In United States v. Handy, Thomas More Society Represented FACE Act Violator Lauren Handy And Four Others For Blockading An Abortion Clinic In October 2020 In Washington, D.C. “Lauren Handy was on trial with four others who were charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that prohibits threats to and obstruction of a person seeking reproductive health services or providers. A U.S. District Court jury in D.C. found Handy and all four of her co-defendants guilty on all counts. Federal prosecutors allege the defendants — Handy, of Alexandria, Va.; John Hinshaw, of Levittown, N.Y.; Heather Idoni, of Linden, Mich.; William Goodman, of New York; and Herb Geraghty, of Pittsburgh — violated federal law when they used chains, bike locks and ropes to blockade the Washington Surgi-Clinic in October 2020.” [Washington Post, 8/29/23]

• Handy Was Sentenced To Nearly Five Years In Prison For Blockading And Entering The D.C. Clinic And Became The First Person To Be Sentenced For Both Federal Conspiracy Against Rights And FACE Act Offense Convictions. “A 30-year-old antiabortion activist who kept fetuses in a Capitol Hill home was sentenced Tuesday to nearly five years in prison for illegally blockading and breaking into a reproductive health clinic in D.C. Lauren Handy, of Alexandria, Va., received a 57-month term and became the first person to be sentenced for the combination of conspiring to violate reproductive health rights under a federal civil rights law and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that prohibits threats to and obstruction of a person seeking reproductive health services or providers.” [Washington Post, 5/14/24]
• Thomas More Society Is Appealing Handy’s Conviction… “Lawyers for an anti-abortion activist sentenced to more than four years in prison for planning the 2020 invasion and blockade of a D.C. clinic have turned their sights toward her appeal – and what they see as a chance at a long-sought victory for the anti-abortion movement at the Supreme Court.” [WUSA9, 5/29/24]
• …And Plans To Use The Appeal To Overturn The FACE Act. “In an interview with WUSA9, Cannon said they also intend to challenge the constitutionality of the FACE Act head-on by arguing that it no longer has a legal basis in a post-Dobbs world. ‘Now, understand that the events in question occurred prior to Dobbs. Roe was still the elephant in the room and these people were kind of flying in the face of Roe,’ Cannon said. ‘Our position is, not only was Roe just lawlessness by the Supreme Court and that eventually that was going to be established – now it has been – but Dobbs has indicated not only that there is no constitutional right to abortion henceforth, but really that there never was. So even though our people were charged with the FACE violation and the conspiracy statute for events that preceded Dobbs, we think that both statutes have zero applicability because there was no federal interest in abortion to regulate or protect.’” [WUSA9, 5/29/24]
• In A Separate Instance, Police Found Questionably Obtained Fetal Remains In Lauren Handy’s Home, Which Were Assumed To Be Products Of Legal Abortions. “Ms. Handy became the focus of widespread public attention in March 2022, the day after she was charged in connection with the clinic blockade, when the police announced they had found five fetuses in a home that the anti-abortion group said was hers. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia said investigators had acted on a tip about ‘potential biohazard material.’ […] The investigation into the fetuses was ongoing, and no one has been charged in connection with the discovery, the police said on Wednesday. The police department has previously said that the abortions of the fetuses were legal under D.C. law and that their investigation would focus on how the remains ended up in the house.’” [New York Times, 8/30/23]
• Handy Is Associated With Two Anti-Abortion Groups, ‘Survivors Of The Abortion Holocaust’ And ‘Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.’ “Lauren Handy, in her late 20s, is a veteran of the young-adult anti-abortion extremist group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust who became a leader of the Washington, D.C.-based Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising. PAAU is an allegedly left-wing, extremist anti-abortion organization ‘committed to direct action by putting our bodies between the oppressed and the oppressor.’” [Ms. Magazine, 1/18/24]

Thomas More Society Is Representing Handy Again As Well As Monica Miller, Citizens For A Pro-Life Society, And Red Rose Rescue In United States v. Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Inc. [CourtListener, accessed 12/5/24]

• The Federal Lawsuit Alleges That These Defendants As Well As Five Other Defendants Violated The FACE Act By Blockading Two Reproductive Health Care Facilities In Ohio. “In bringing this action, the United States alleges that: (1) Defendants Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Inc., Red Rose Rescue, Laura Gies, Lauren Handy, Clara McDonald, Monica Miller, Christopher Moscinski, Jay Smith, and Audrey Whipple, have committed, and are likely to continue to commit, violations of the FACE Act; and (2) various persons who provide or obtain reproductive health services are being, have been, and will continue to be injured, intimidated, and/or interfered with by the Defendants’ conduct. […] Defendants organized, formulated, and participated in two coordinated and related RRR events in Northeast Ohio (“Northeast Ohio Events”) that occurred on June 4, 2021 at Northeast Ohio Women’s Center (NOWC) in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and on June 5, 2021 at Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio’s Bedford Heights Surgery Center (BHSC) in Bedford Heights, Ohio.” [United States v. Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-00893, (N.D. Ohio), Verified Complaint filed 5/20/24]
• A Seasoned Anti-Abortion Activist, Defendant Monica Miller, A Seasoned Anti-Abortion Activist, Actively Led Harassment Campaigns That Targeted Abortion Providers. “This was a tried-and-true routine for Miller, a lifelong anti-abortion radical who sees her rap sheet as a badge of honor. Miller, now 65, came of age at the height of the anti-abortion movement’s backlash against Roe v. Wade. She joined a radical group that used tactics like chaining protesters to clinic doors and pouring glue into the locks. Miller became a leader of the ‘rescue’ movement of the ’80s and ’90s, which staged elaborate protests in which pro-life activists ‘saved’ countless babies by means of more than 500 clinic blockades and 31,000 arrests. Their offensive culminated in 1991, during the so-called Summer of Mercy, organized by Operation Rescue and its leader Randall Terry.” [Mother Jones, 9/2018]

Andrew Bath, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President And General Counsel, Believes That The FACE Act Is Unconstitutional. “This egregious abuse of government power must stop. The FACE Act has been weaponized by this administration. Even if enforced honestly, the FACE Act is unconstitutional. If our constitutional system of separation of powers and the ideal of citizen self-government are to be preserved, the FACE Act must be repealed.” [Office of Congressman Chip Roy, Press Release, 9/19/23]

Breen Has Misleadingly Associated Sidewalk Harassment Of Abortion Patients With Civil Rights-Era Sit-Ins. “Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation, explained how, in his opinion, the Biden Administration is unconstitutionally using the law to target the free speech of pro-life individuals—punishing them for their peaceful protest of abortion vendors. ‘The FACE Act really is intended to stop civil actions where pro-life advocates peaceably sit in front of the door of an abortion facility,’ Breen shared. ‘These peaceful sit-ins draw their genesis from the American Civil Rights movement. The FACE Act turned that into a federal crime, which is a great shame as there are local laws to deal with trespassing.’” [PRNewswire, 1/18/24]

Breen Has Called FACE Act Violators “Brave Civilians” That Are Treated “Worse Than Major Drug Dealers.” “‘The problem is that the Biden Administration has charged these peaceful protestors with a ten-year felony “conspiracy against rights” and treated them worse than major drug dealers,’ Breen stated. ‘In an act of major overreach, the Biden Department of Justice has also labeled this as a crime of violence, heaping on the unjust persecution of these brave civilians who have exercised their right to speak out against abortion.’” [PRNewswire, 1/18/24]

Alongside Fellow Anti-Abortion Groups, Thomas More Society Supported Efforts To Repeal The FACE Act. “Today, Representative Chip Roy (R-TX-21) introduced legislation to repeal the unconstitutional and weaponized Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act; Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) will lead companion legislation in the Senate. […] Supporting organizations include Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Thomas More Society, Family Research Council, Students for Life Action, Catholic Vote, Live Action and Citizens for Renewing America.” [Office of Congressman Chip Roy, Press Release, 9/19/23]

In 2015, Thomas More Society Filed An Amicus Brief To Argue That Embryos Are Legally People. “Anti-abortion groups are seeking a foothold on a new battlefield: custody disputes over frozen embryos. Take the case of Jalesia McQueen and Justin Gadberry, a divorced Missouri couple in a court fight over the frozen embryos left over after the birth of their twins through in vitro fertilization. […] Thomas Olp, of the Thomas More Society, a conservative public-interest law firm that filed the brief in concert with Missouri Right to Life and other anti-abortion groups, said: ‘Husbands and wives can divide up their property however they want, but embryos are living beings, so the legal standard has to be what’s in their best interest.’ […] The cases are part of the broader ‘personhood’ debate that has become central to abortion politics.” [New York Times, 1/19/16]

• Thomas More Society Also Intervened In The Related Case, Loeb v. Vergara. “His firm has also intervened in a much-publicized California case on the frozen embryos the actress Sofía Vergara made with her ex-fiancé, Nick Loeb, who wants to use them with a surrogate. Ms. Vergara’s request to dismiss the case was denied, but no trial date has been set. Mr. Olp said his firm is likely to also join any appeal of recent cases in Chicago and San Francisco, involving women who froze embryos when they received cancer diagnoses and sought to use them after treatment, over the fathers’ objections.”  [New York Times, 1/19/16]

Thomas More Society Has A Long History Of Promoting A Full Range Of Discrimination Against LGBTQIA+ People. “Two religious liberty groups have come out in support of a northwest suburban high school district’s policy requiring a transgender student to change and shower in private rooms, in advance of a federal directive on the issue. The Thomas More Society and the Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Monday to Township High School District 211 providing a legal argument in support of its policy. […] Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the ACLU, said he was not surprised by the latest development. ‘Thomas More favors every sort of discrimination possible against LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning) people,’ he said. ‘They were for discrimination in adoption and gay marriage. They were wrong every other time, and they’re wrong this time.’” [Chicago Tribune, 10/21/15]

Thomas More Society Represented A Transphobic Mother In A Lawsuit Against Her Emancipated Child Who Sought Healthcare. “A mother in Minnesota who sued her transgender daughter for emancipating herself and then obtaining gender transition care is bringing her case to the Supreme Court […] Her daughter, identified in court papers as E.J.K., moved out in 2015 and at 15 years old obtained a letter from a legal clinic that concluded E.J.K. was ‘legally emancipated.’ Using that letter, E.J.K. was able to obtain gender transition care […] ‘This is an unacceptable situation for any parent and a serious violation of parental and due process rights,’ Kaardal said.” [CNBC, 7/24/19]

Thomas More Society Attorney Charles LiMandri Has Applauded U.S. Supreme Court Justices For What He Perceives As Injustices Against Religious Freedom. “[U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s] chief topic attracted less attention but was more noteworthy: the need to protect religious freedom from what the justice described as increasing public indifference, if not outright antagonism. […] ‘Justice Alito is absolutely correct that the attacks on our religious liberty have been ramping up all over our nation,’ said Charles LiMandri, an attorney for the Thomas More Society, which filed arguments on the winning side in the abortion case. ‘Thank God that the majority of the current members of the United States Supreme Court, like Justice Alito, are turning their attention to righting some of the injustices wrought by secular ideologues who are hostile to our religious freedoms.’” [San Francisco Chronicle, 8/10/22]

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Paul Jonna Praised SCOTUS’ Decision In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. “Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society special counsel, explained, ‘We are optimistic that the ruling in 303 Creative will protect all creative professionals involved in the wedding industry, including Cathy Miller. The Supreme Court’s ruling makes abundantly clear that there is room in our great county for people of all views on marriage.’” [WorldNetDaily, 6/30/23]

Tom Brejcha is the founder, president, and chief counsel of Thomas More Society. He defended anti-abortion activist and Pro-Life Action League founder Joseph Scheidler (the “godfather” of the anti-abortion movement) in Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, wherein the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal laws against racketeering and extortion do not apply to anti-abortion harassment and violence directed at abortion clinics. Brejcha likened this sidewalk harassment to mere freedom of speech.

Andrew Bath is the executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of the board of directors of Thomas More Society. He has been involved with Thomas More Society since 2013. He is the former board chairman for Wisconsin Right to Life’s Political Action Committee and a member of the Heritage Foundation, an anti-human rights “think tank,” where he has spoken on multiple anti-abortion panels. Bath believes the FACE Act should be repealed altogether. Before Dobbs, Bath was giddy at the prospect of Roe being overturned.

Peter Breen is Thomas More Society’s Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation. He was previously an Illinois state representative. As an attorney, he has defended anti-abortion sidewalk harassers and the unethical and unsafe treatment “abortion pill reversal” falsely advertised by AACs. He has spread anti-abortion disinformation and threatened pregnant people traveling interstate to receive abortion care.

Ann Scheidler is chairman of Thomas More Society’s board of directors, a position she’s held since 2008. She is the wife of Pro-Life Action League founder Joseph Scheidler, the “godfather” of the anti-abortion movement. Ann also helped found the Pro-Life Action League.

Mary Elizabeth Coleman is an anti-abortion activist, Missouri state senator, and special counsel for Thomas More Society. Rep. Coleman introduced an anti-abortion measure that would restrict out-of-state abortion care, akin to Texas’ SB 8, in Missouri. She also introduced a Missouri Senate Bill that would make Planned Parenthood ineligible to receive reimbursements from the state’s Medicaid program. In her capacity as a Missouri official, she was represented by the firm in a lawsuit that tried to remove Missouri’s abortion-rights initiative measure from the state’s November 2024 ballot.

Alliance Defending Freedom And Thomas More Society Worked Together To Create A Transphobic Model Policy For School Restrooms. “Two religious liberty groups have come out in support of a northwest suburban high school district’s policy requiring a transgender student to change and shower in private rooms, in advance of a federal directive on the issue. The Thomas More Society and the Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Monday to Township High School District 211 providing a legal argument in support of its policy. The groups also offered a model policy that would provide private changing areas for all students who request it, based on religious or other reasons, but would not provide transgender students access to the facilities of their choice.” [Chicago Tribune, 10/19/15]

Thomas More Society’s Defended Anti-Abortion Protesters Named In An Antitrust Lawsuit Filed By The National Organization For Women. “With the abortion issue raging politically in the wake of a number of violent attacks on abortion clinics in the 1980s, NOW filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Joseph Scheidler and other abortion opponents. The suit claimed that groups protesting abortion clinics were engaging in a conspiracy to prevent access to health care facilities. The case would eventually include racketeering charges and would go before the U.S. Supreme Court on three occasions. […] In 2006, the Supreme Court — on its third go-round — issued a final ruling in [Scheidler v. National Organization for Women], finding in favor of Scheidler.” [Chicago Tribune, 10/6/13]

• Thomas More Society First Defended Anti-Abortion Extremist Joseph Scheidler In National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler (1994). [National Organization for Women, Inc. v. Scheidler, 510 U.S. 249, 1/24/94]
  
• In Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2003), The Rehnquist Court Ruled In Favor Of Scheidler And The Pro-Life Action Network (PLAN)…[Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc., 537 U.S. 393, 2/26/03]
  
• …And Again In Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2006), Wherein The Roberts Court Ruled The Hobbs Act Did Not Apply To Anti-Abortion Violence And That The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) Did Not Apply Due To The 1994 Passage Of The FACE Act. [Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc., 547 U.S. 9, 2/28/06]

Thomas More Society Represented Anti-Abortion Activist David Daleiden, Who Orchestrated A Smear Campaign Against Planned Parenthood. “A federal jury found Friday that an anti-abortion activist illegally secretly recorded workers at Planned Parenthood clinics and is liable for violating federal and state laws. The jury ordered him, the Center for Medical Progress and other parties to pay nearly $2.3 million in damages. […] ​​Daleiden was represented in court by the St. Thomas More Society, which said it would appeal Friday’s verdict.” ​​[Associated Press, 11/15/19]

• The Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals Found That The Smear Campaign Was Not Protected Under The First Amendment. “The long-running legal fight between abortion foe David Daleiden and Planned Parenthood took another turn Friday, as a Ninth Circuit panel found Daleiden’s undercover videos are not entitled to First Amendment protections. […] Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel for the Thomas More society who represented Daleiden at trial, said the panel’s decision reverses decades of precedent that enshrines constitutional protections for journalists. […] ‘We will appeal this decision to the en banc full panel of judges of the Ninth Circuit. Every American should be disturbed by this decision, which stabs at the heart of the First Amendment, and the Thomas More Society will press on to defend Mr. Daleiden and his undercover reporting, which has so greatly benefited our nation.’” [Courthouse News Service, 10/21/22]
• Troy Newman, President Of The Anti-Abortion Terrorist Organization Operation Rescue And Board Member Of Center For Medical Progress, Was Also Represented By Thomas More Society In The Lawsuit. [Planned Parenthood Federation of America v. Newman, No. 3:16-cv-00236-WHO (9th Cir.), Opinion filed 10/21/22]

In People of the State of New York v. Griepp, Thomas More Society Defended A Collective Of Anti-Abortion Sidewalk Harassers. “A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to enter an injunction against anti-abortion protesters who were accused by the state of violating laws meant to ensure patients’ access to abortion clinics without interference or harassment. […] The state sued the 13 protesters in 2017, alleging that protesters crowded women trying to enter the clinic, made death threats to people trying to escort them and blocked their path with posters purportedly of aborted fetuses. It said those actions violated the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the state’s New York State Clinic Access Act and New York City’s Access to Reproductive Health Care Facilities Act.” [Reuters, 8/26/21]

Thomas More Society Won A Case For An Anti-Abortion Sidewalk Counselor Who Verbally Harassed A Planned Parenthood Nurse. “Brian Aish protests outside of family planning clinics to ‘warn women [seeking abortions] they will be accountable to God on the day of judgment if they proceed,’ and to persuade clinic staff to work elsewhere. Between 2014 and 2019, Aish regularly protested at two clinics where Nancy Kindschy worked as a nurse practitioner. […] On October 8, 2019, as Kindschy and a co-worker were leaving the clinic, Aish stated that Kindschy had time to repent, that ‘it won’t be long before bad things will happen to you and your family,’ and that ‘you could get killed by a drunk driver tonight.” On February 18, 2020, Aish said to Kindschy, ‘I pray you guys make it home safely for another day or two until you turn to Christ and repent. You still have time.’” [Nancy Kindschy v. Brian Aish, No. 2020AP001775 (Wis. 2024), Opinion filed 6/27/24] 

In A Bid To Enforce Parts Of Florida Senate Bill 7072 (2021), The Firm Is Representing An Anti-Abortion Activist Affiliated With The Group Family For LIFE, Who Is Suing Google. “On September 23, 2023, Trudy used her Google account to send an email to the pro-life group she is involved with, Family For Life, announcing an upcoming outdoor Catholic Mass to take place across the street from a local Jacksonville abortion facility. The email stated that the preborn would be remembered ‘[p]rayerfully, peacefully and reverently.’ About an hour after Trudy sent this email, Google notified her that her account had been suspended. The lawsuit, which aims to enforce parts of Florida’s groundbreaking anti-censorship law, seeks to return Trudy’s property to her, which Google itself acknowledges belongs to her and not to Google.” [Thomas More Society, accessed 11/25/24]

Thomas More Society Represented NIFLA, Pro-Life Action League, And Illinois AACs In Their Lawsuit Against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul To Halt A Consumer Protection Law That Would Fine AACs For Engaging In Deceptive Business Practices. [National Institute of Family Life Advocates v. Raoul, 3:23-cv-50279, (N.D. Ill.), Verified Complaint filed 7/27/23]

• The Lawsuit Resulted In A Federal Judge Striking Down The State Law, Calling It “Stupid And Very Likely Unconstitutional.” “A federal judge in Rockford has temporarily blocked the enforcement of a new law that allows the Illinois attorney general’s office to penalize anti-abortion pregnancy centers if they use deception to interfere with patients seeking the procedure. In his written order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston called the law ‘both stupid and very likely unconstitutional,’ and said it represented ‘a blatant example’ of the government deciding ‘whose speech is sanctionable and whose speech is immunized.’ The law ‘is likely classic content and viewpoint discrimination prohibited by the First Amendment,’ Johnston wrote. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the conservative Chicago nonprofit law firm the Thomas More Society that contended the measure, signed into law last week by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, violates the First Amendment right to free speech.” [Chicago Tribune, 8/4/23]
• Executive Vice President And Head Of Litigation Breen Celebrated Johnston’s Decision. “‘The federal court was spot on in holding that SB 1909 is “both stupid and very likely unconstitutional,”’ stated Breen, recalling Johnston’s preliminary injunction order. ‘SB 1909 exempts abortion facilities and their speech, while exclusively regulating pro-life organizations and their speech, in flagrant violation of the First Amendment.’” [Thomas More Society, 12/11/23]
• Breen Brushed Off That Illinois AACs Are Spreading Misinformation. “‘Free speech won today in the Land of Lincoln — pro-life advocates across Illinois can breathe a sigh of relief they won’t be pursued for “misinformation” by Attorney General Kwame Raoul,’ Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation for the Thomas More Society and a former Republican state representative, said in a statement issued Thursday night.” [Chicago Tribune, 8/4/23]

Thomas More Society Is Representing AAC Giants Heartbeat International And Obria, Which Are Both Being Sued By California Attorney General Rob Bonta For Advertising The Unsafe And Unethical AAC Practice, “Abortion Pill Reversal.” “California is suing two major anti-abortion groups over claims made about the viability of ‘abortion pill reversal,’ Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday. Heartbeat International, a national anti-abortion group, and RealOptions Obria, a chain that operates five crisis pregnancy centers in Northern California, both promote services to ‘reverse’ the medication abortion process. Bonta is suing both groups in Alameda Superior Court under the state’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition laws. ‘(Heartbeat International) and RealOptions took advantage of pregnant patients at a deeply vulnerable time in their lives, using false and misleading claims to lure them in and mislead them about a potentially risky procedure,’ Bonta said in a statement. ‘We are launching today’s lawsuit to put a stop to their predatory and unlawful behavior.’” [CalMatters, 9/21/23]

• Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel, Claims That California’s Lawsuit Against Heartbeat International Denigrates Women. “‘Attorney General Rob Bonta is bringing down the full force of the California government, at the beck and call of the abortion lobby, to silence and bury information that helps women save their preborn children,’ said Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel and Partner, LiMandri and Jonna LLP. […] ‘By making war against Heartbeat International, the State of California is denigrating women,’ added Jonna. ‘Women deserve to know their options with Abortion Pill Reversal, and this lawsuit is a threat to female autonomy and fairness. Simply put, women deserve the right to try and save their pregnancies. Pregnant mothers are entitled to the truth about the options regarding reversing the abortion they have found themselves regretting.’” [Thomas More Society, 10/24/23]

Thomas More Society Sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta On Behalf Of AAC Culture of Life Family Services… “Bonta has no business butting into the intimate medical decision of an expectant mother, in consultation with the medical professional of her choice, to carry her pregnancy to term and save her unborn baby from the disastrous effects of mifepristone while there is still time to undo the effects of that powerful chemical.” [Culture of Life Family Services, Inc. v. Bonta, No. 3:2024cv01338, Verified Complaint filed 7/30/24]

• …Whose Medical Director Is Dr. George Delgado. [Culture of Life Family Services, accessed 11/26/24]
• “Abortion Pill Reversal” Was Invented By Dr. Delgado, Who Operates AAC Giant Heartbeat International’s Abortion Pill Rescue Network. [Pro-Lies.org, accessed 10/25/24]

New York Attorney General Letitia James Brought Suit Against Several AACs That Are Represented By Thomas More Society For Their Promotion Of “Abortion Pill Reversal.” [Heartbeat International & CompassCare, et al. v. Letitia James, Docket No. E2024007242, Verified Complaint filed 4/30/24]

• Executive Vice President And Head Of Litigation Breen Falsely Claims Abortion Pill Reversal Is Evidence-Based And Safe. “New York Attorney General Letitia James has decided to proceed full steam ahead with her witch-hunt against New York’s pregnancy help organizations. Delivering on her threat of lawfare against our life-affirming clients, Ms. James has filed a baseless lawsuit in Manhattan—where none of our clients are located—to unconstitutionally silence their pro-life message. In doing so, Ms. James is seeking to keep in the dark women who desire to urgently try to continue their pregnancies. […] Ms. James should “follow the science” and face the facts: Abortion Pill Reversal is a safe and effective option for pregnant mothers who have taken the first abortion pill, immediately regret it, and seek to save their unborn babies’ lives.” [Thomas More Society, 5/6/24]
• Breen Also Spread Disinformation About Mifepristone, Which Is Actually Safe Unlike “Abortion Pill Reversal.” “[W]e invite Ms. James to turn her ire towards organizations like Planned Parenthood, which continue to disseminate inaccurate, misleading, and even false information, about the risks and dangers of the chemical abortion process to women who pay for their services—and have thus far not been targeted with threats or prosecution by Ms. James’ office.” [Thomas More Society, 5/6/24]
• New York Attorney General James Was Later Barred From Taking Action Against The AACs While Thomas More Society’s Counter Lawsuit Unfolds. “Citing free speech rights, a federal judge has temporarily blocked New York’s attorney general from taking enforcement action against certain pregnancy counseling centers for promoting what critics say is an unproven method to reverse medication abortions. U.S. District Judge John Sinatra Jr. in Buffalo issued a preliminary injunction against state Attorney General Letitia James and her office on Thursday. The order says James’ office cannot take legal action against two centers and a related association while their lawsuit against James is pending in federal court.” [Associated Press, 8/23/24]

The Firm Is Suing New York State Attorney General Letitia James On Behalf Of AACs Summit Life Outreach Center And The Evergreen Association (DBA Expectant Mother Care). “Plaintiffs in this action, pro-life organizations whose mission is informed by their religious conviction that abortion is the killing of an innocent human being, are not parties to that state court suit. But James’ years-long campaign of intimidation against pro-lifers creates considerable ‘risk of catastrophic harm’ that Plaintiffs could soon suffer if (and highly likely when) they are targeted by similar lawfare over their own similar pro-APR communications.” [Summit Life Outreach Center Inc. v. James, No. 1:24-cv-00741, (W.D.N.Y.), Verified Complaint filed 8/7/24]

Thomas More Society Worked With New York-Based AACs CompassCare And Alpha Pregnancy Care Center To Oppose Legislative Efforts Targeting Deceptive Tactics Employed By The Entities. “The proposed Local Law ‘D’ would illegally regulate the speech of PROs [anti-abortion centers] in two ways. First, it would prohibit them from making a variety of statements, alleged to be ‘misleading’ or ‘inaccurate,’ about their services and about pregnancy and abortion, among other topics. Second, it would force each PRO to prominently post notices with a variety of statements (some of which are misleading or false), including (1) that their facilities are not medical facilities; (2) that they do not have licensed medical staff on site; (3) whether they offer or refer for abortion or emergency contraception; and (4) that abortion and emergency contraception are legal in New York. […] We write today to respectfully request the County cease and desist from chilling our clients’ fundamental constitutional rights and to preview some of the arguments we intend to use in Federal Court, should proposed Local Law ‘D’ be enacted.” [Thomas More Society, Letter, 4/24/24]

Thomas More Society Seeks To Overturn San Diego’s Buffer Zone Ordinance Protecting Abortion Clinics And Their Patients From Intimidation, Comparing Sidewalk Harassment To Fights For Gender And Racial Equality And Labor Rights. “The public sidewalks where Mr. Lopez offers counseling are sacrosanct in American constitutional history, the place where once-marginal ideas like sex and race equality and labor rights have moved from the soapbox into the mainstream. […] Because it is impossible to guess which of today’s seemingly odd or even offensive minority views will emerge from the marketplace of ideas as gospel truths down the road, the Supreme Court long has given a wide berth to and safeguarded sidewalk speech so long as it remains peaceful.” [Lopez v. San Diego, No. 3:24-cv-01577-LL-DDL, Verified Complaint filed 9/5/24]

The Firm Is Asking The U.S. Supreme Court To Review Its Case Targeting A Buffer Zone Ordinance In Carbondale, Illinois, In Order To Upend The Constitutionality Of Buffer Zone Laws By Overturning Hill v. Colorado (2000). “One of the cases the Supreme Court is being asked to consider originates out of Carbondale, a college town in southern Illinois that has become a critical access point for abortion care for residents in the South and the Midwest. […] Almost immediately, Carbondale’s ordinance was challenged by Coalition Life, which filed suit in May 2023, calling the bubble zone unconstitutional. […] Carbondale’s city council later repealed the ordinance in July 2024. In court documents, the city said that no one had been charged and existing laws offered sufficient protection. But Coalition Life is pressing ahead with its lawsuit to prevent the bubble zone from returning, asking the Supreme Court to topple the precedent established in Hill v. Colorado. In that 2000 decision, justices ruled that a Colorado law with similar guidelines to Carbondale’s was constitutional.” [NBC News, 10/11/24]

Thomas More Society Represented Missouri State Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman And Representative Hannah Kelly, 40 Days For Life’s Kathy Forck, And President/CEO Peggy Forrest Of The Anti-Abortion Center Our Lady’s Inn In An Attempt To Remove Missouri’s Reproductive-Rights Amendment 3 From The November 2024 Ballot.“Those whose interests the Government is prohibited from considering under Amendment 3 would include not only a woman’s unborn child (however and for whatever purpose conceived, male or female, healthy or well, pre-sentient or feeling pain, whether just before birth or frozen as an embryo, etc.), but also a partner/other parent of an unborn child, and even the parents of a minor child seeking ‘reproductive health care’ such as abortion, sterilization, genital mutilation, gender transition surgery, or hormone-blocking drugs. Simply put, under Amendment 3, the Government may not consider anything (even another person’s life) more important than any person’s (including a minor’s) right to ‘reproductive freedom.’” [Coleman, et al. v. Ashcroft, No. SC100742, Respondents’ Brief filed 9/9/24]

Thomas More Society Tried To Remove Nebraska’s “Protect the Right to Abortion” Initiative Measure 439 From Its November 2024 Ballot In A Lawsuit Representing The Founder Of A Women’s Care Center Location (Now Bethlehem House) In Omaha. “A Douglas County woman asked the Nebraska Supreme Court this week to overrule Secretary of State Bob Evnen and stop an abortion-rights amendment from appearing on the November ballot. Carolyn LaGreca of Douglas County was identified in her court filing as a founder, first director and board member of the Women’s Care Center in Omaha, which became Bethlehem House and housed and served women with unplanned pregnancies. […] She declined a request for comment through her attorney, who works for the nonprofit Thomas More Society.” [Nebraska Examiner, 8/28/24]

In A Brazen Display Of Transphobia, Thomas More Society Filed A Complaint In Federal Court On Behalf Of Two Public School Teachers Who Are Refusing To Use Students’ Correct Pronouns. [Mirabelli v. Olson, No. 3:23-cv-00768, (S.D. Cal.), Verified Complaint filed 4/27/23]

Thomas More Society Is Representing A Los Angeles County Employee Who Claims He Is Being Discriminated Against For Refusing To Raise The Progress Pride Flag. “‘Anti-discrimination laws undeniably serve valuable interests rooted in equality, justice, and fairness. And in a pluralistic society, these laws foster worthy goals such as inclusion and belonging.’ […] But forcing Captain Little to raise and fly the Progress Pride Flag ‘is petty tyranny unworthy of the spirit of this Republic.’” [Jeffrey Little v. Los Angeles County Fire Department et al., No. 2:24-cv-04353-JLS-PD (C.D. Cal.), Verified Complaint filed 5/24/24]

Thomas More Society Is Representing Anti-Abortion Group Voices For Life In Its Lawsuit Against The Indiana Department Of Health (IDOH). [Voices for Life v. Indiana Department of Health, No. 49D02-2405-MI-019876, Complaint filed 5/1/24]

• Voices For Life Is Seeking To Obtain Individual-Level Reports On Abortion Patients In The State. “The Indiana Department of Health stopped sharing individual terminated pregnancy reports, or TPRs, in December due to patient privacy concerns. The reports are completed by medical providers following an abortion in the state of Indiana and include data about the patient and the procedure. An anti-abortion group is suing the agency and said the decision violates Indiana’s public records law. The anti-abortion group, Voices for Life, filed to regain access to the TPRs. It said it needs access to the forms to hold people accountable to Indiana law.” [WFYI, 5/7/24]
• Thomas More Society Special Counsel Benjamin Horvath Implied That The Reports Would Be Used For Surveillance To Criminalize Abortion Patients And Providers. “Indiana citizens have a right to this vital information and to transparency in their state government. By refusing to comply with Voices for Life’s request for access to public records, the health department is depriving citizens of their role in petitioning the attorney general to investigate cases that suggest terminating a pregnancy was unlawful.” [Thomas More Society, 5/2/24]

With Approval From Governor Kim Reynolds, Thomas More Society Represented Iowa Pro-Bono In A Legal Challenge To Its Abortion Ban. “Officials have approved using a conservative law firm to defend the state in a lawsuit challenging a law that bans most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The Executive Council of Iowa voted unanimously Monday to allow the Thomas More Society to represent the state in the lawsuit filed last week in state district court. The Chicago firm agreed to do the work at no cost to the state after Attorney General Tom Miller disqualified his office from defending the law. […] The five-member council includes Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is named in the lawsuit. She was traveling and didn’t vote on the issue.” [Associated Press, 5/21/18]

• Iowa’s Six-Week Abortion Ban Was The Strictest In The Nation At The Time. “The lawsuit, filed by Iowa affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, says the law violates the Iowa Constitution. It bans most abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, making it the nation’s strictest abortion law. It’s set to take effect July 1.” [Associated Press, 5/21/18]

Thomas More Society Represented Texan Marcus Silva In His Lawsuit Against His Ex-Wife’s Friends For Allegedly Helping Her Obtain Abortion Pills. “The month after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a mother of two in Texas who had filed for divorce from her husband discovered she was pregnant. Determined not to have another child and worried that her husband would try to use the pregnancy to make her stay with him, she did what many of us would do and turned to two friends for help. […] Now the ex-husband, Marcus Silva, is getting his revenge.” [New York Times, 3/13/23]

• As Counsel, Thomas More Society Worked Alongside Former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan F. Mitchell, The Architect Of SB 8. “Silva’s case appears to have the backing of the anti-abortion movement, since he’s being represented by Jonathan F. Mitchell, the former Texas solicitor general who devised Texas’ abortion bounty law, which gives private citizens the power to sue others for ‘conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion.’ His legal team also includes Briscoe Cain, a prominent abortion opponent in the Texas House, and three members of the Thomas More Society, a right-wing Catholic legal organization. ‘Assisting a self-managed abortion in Texas,’ says the lawsuit, is ‘an act of murder.’” [New York Times, 3/13/23]
• Silva Eventually Dropped His Lawsuit. “Almost two years ago, a Galveston man sued his ex-wife’s friends for wrongful death after they allegedly helped her obtain pills to terminate her pregnancy. The first-of-its-kind lawsuit set off a panic about a potential new avenue of abortion criminalization in post-Roe v. Wade America. On Thursday, the claims were dropped with nothing to show for them.” [Texas Tribune, 10/11/24]

Representing Anti-Abortion Groups Including Students for Life of America, Pro-Life Action League, And Illinois Right to Life, Thomas More Society Is Suing To Block An Illinois Law That Would Require Health Insurers To Cover Abortion Care. “Half a dozen groups and employers who oppose abortion are suing Gov. JB Pritzker and other state officials, aiming to stop them from enforcing a law that requires health insurers in Illinois to cover abortions and abortion medications at no cost to patients. […] The organizations allege in their lawsuit that Illinois’ laws are forcing them, as employers, to buy health insurance plans for their employees that cover abortion and abortion medications despite the groups’ stances against abortion. They argue that because patients are provided abortion medications free, everyone else’s premiums help pay for the drugs.” [Chicago Tribune, 11/20/24]

• If Successful, Thomas More Society Would Threaten The Accessibility Of Abortion Care For Illinoisans With State-Regulated Health Plans. “They’re targeting provisions of Illinois law that require state-regulated health insurers to cover abortions and to cover medications used to terminate pregnancies without charging patients any money out-of-pocket for them.” [Chicago Tribune, 11/20/24]

Thomas More Society Drafts Model Legislation That Would Allow Private Citizens To Sue Anyone Helping A Pregnant Person In An Abortion-Banned State Receive Access To Care. “The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal organization, is drafting model legislation for state lawmakers that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a resident of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of that state. The draft language will borrow from the novel legal strategy behind a Texas abortion ban enacted last year in which private citizens were empowered to enforce the law through civil litigation.” [Washington Post, 6/29/22]

Alongside Anti-LGBTQIA+ Hate Group Alliance Defending Freedom, Thomas More Society Wrote Transphobic Model Policy For School Changing Rooms. “Two religious liberty groups have come out in support of a northwest suburban high school district’s policy requiring a transgender student to change and shower in private rooms, in advance of a federal directive on the issue. The Thomas More Society and the Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Monday to Township High School District 211 providing a legal argument in support of its policy. The groups also offered a model policy that would provide private changing areas for all students who request it, based on religious or other reasons, but would not provide transgender students access to the facilities of their choice. Peter Breen, an attorney for the Chicago-based society, called it a ‘common-sense’ approach that complied with federal law.” [Chicago Tribune, 10/19/15]

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), Which Overturned A Federal Right To Abortion, Thomas More Society Filed An Amicus Brief Arguing That The Right To Abortion Is Not Supported By U.S. History And Legal Tradition… “In Roe, the Court described the right being asserted, not in general terms of ‘personal autonomy’ or ‘bodily integrity,’ […] or even more specifically as ‘reproductive freedom,’ […] but as the right of a woman ‘to choose to terminate her pregnancy.’ […] As this brief demonstrates, however, nothing in our history, legal traditions or practices supports recognition of such a right.” [Thomas More Society Dobbs Amicus Brief, 7/26/21]

• …And That Nineteenth-Century Abortion Bans Indicate Roe Should Be Overturned. “[N]ineteenth century abortion statutes and cases interpreting them leads to one inescapable conclusion: they were enacted with an intent to protect unborn human life.”  [Thomas More Society Dobbs Amicus Brief, 7/26/21]
• These Deliberately Ahistorical Arguments Come From A Longstanding Anti-Abortion Fiction. “We are dismayed that the court declined to take seriously the historical claims of our [Dobbs amicus curiae] brief. Instead, the court adopted a flawed interpretation of abortion criminalization that has been pressed by anti-abortion advocates for more than 30 years. The opinion inadequately represents the history of the common law, the significance of quickening in state law and practice in the United States, and the 19th-century forces that turned early abortion into a crime.” [American Historical Association, 7/2022]

In The Consolidated Cases Of Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania (2020) and Donald J. Trump, et al. v. Pennsylvania, et al. (2020), Thomas More Society Filed An Amicus Brief In Support Of Further Gutting The Affordable Care Act’s Contraceptive Mandate. [Thomas More Society Little Sisters Amicus Brief, 3/9/20]

Thomas More Society Filed An Amicus Brief In Support Of Overturning Nebraska’s No-Fault Divorce Law. “A devoutly Catholic husband who refused to grant his wife a divorce on religious grounds urged Nebraska’s highest court Thursday to overturn the state’s no-fault divorce law in a case that could leave Nebraska as the only state without a law that lets couples end their marriage without assigning blame. […] Nebraska’s no-fault divorce law allows one spouse to declare the marriage dead, and the courts ‘rubber stamp that’ without giving the other spouse an adequate chance to argue why it should be preserved, said Matthew Heffron, an attorney for the Thomas More Society, which filed a brief urging the court to strike down Nebraska’s law.” [Associated Press, 9/3/20]

For Its 2023 Fiscal Year, Thomas More Society Reported Total Revenue Of $13,269,276, Total Expenses Of $13,501,476, And Net Assets Of $2,627,302.

[Thomas More Society 2023 Form 990, Filed 7/26/24]

DonorsTrust, An Influential Channel Of Funds For Anti-Abortion And Anti-LGBTQIA+ Activity And Litigation, Has Historically Donated To Thomas More Society.

[Donors Trust Inc 2021 Form 990, Filed 11/15/22]

The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, A Conservative Foundation Operated By Richard Uihlein That Routinely Funds Anti-Abortion And Anti-LGBTQIA+ Causes, Has Given At Least $100,000 To Thomas More Society. [Ed Uihlein Family Foundation 2021 Form 990-PF, Obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy]

The Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, A Fellow Conservative Grantmaker That Is Connected To The Heritage Foundation, Gave $250,000 To Thomas More Society In Fiscal Year 2020 For Its Campaign To Stop The Certification Of The 2020 Presidential Election.

[Diana Davis Spencer Foundation 2020 Form 990-PF, Obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy]