ACLJ’s Massive 50 State Battle for Life
Tomorrow, June 24th, marks one year since the Supreme Court upended the abortion industry with its historic ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade – a deadly 50-year injustice – and forever changed the landscape of the pro-life movement.
The ACLJ was directly engaged in the Dobbs case, filing critical amicus briefs urging to Court to make this monumental decision to end the injustice of Roe. It was a historic victory that I’ve personally fought for well over 30 years to see come to fruition. In fact, it was a case we fought in the early ’90s – Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic – that was crucial to the ruling in Dobbs.
As I said about Bray and its impact on Dobbs a year ago:
The case is Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic, our case from 1992 and 1993. “Accordingly, laws regulating or prohibiting abortion are not subject to heightened scrutiny.” And what that means is, rational basis applied, the Court concluded that [under] rational basis, you can protect the life of the unborn. It returns to the state. There was no constitutional home for the right to abortion in the Fourteenth Amendment. Bray v. Alexandria [said] opposition to abortion is not discrimination against women. Who would have thought that a case we argued in 1991, and again in 1992, decided in 1993, based on activities that took place in 1989 and 1990, would end up as one of the bases for this critical Supreme Court decision? But there it is. It’s humbling.
But as I also told you all even a year ago, our work to save unborn babies was far from over just because Roe was overturned. Dobbs was not some magic switch that suddenly shut down abortion for good. As we predicted, the abortion lobby immediately regrouped and took the battle to the individual states. And we were absolutely right.
For the past year, the ACLJ has been fighting back, waging a campaign to defend life and defeat abortion and defund the abortion giant Planned Parenthood in all 50 states – and at the U.S. Supreme Court – and we aren’t slowing down. Too many innocent unborn lives depend on us.
Our team has even created a detailed U.S. Abortion Law Map by State so our ACLJ members can be fully aware of their state’s abortion laws and the status of any ongoing litigation since the Dobbs decision. It’s imperative that you know where your home state stands on abortion and what you may be able to do to join the fight and defend these precious unborn lives.
And it’s not just the babies. We’re fighting for the rights and protections of pro-life workers and pro-life pregnancy centers, as well as pro-life counselors, journalists, and volunteers. As we just posted in a new blog at ACLJ.org, we’re urgently appealing a California injustice where a jury awarded Planned Parenthood millions of dollars after it sued pro-life journalists who exposed its horrific abortion practices.
We recently filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court to defend our client – a former board member of the pro-life organization – and stop Planned Parenthood from getting away with selling aborted babies’ body parts. This case could quickly become our biggest Supreme Court case for life since Dobbs.
We’re also representing two elderly pro-lifers who were brutally assaulted by a violent pro-abortion extremist. They were thrown to the ground and savagely punched and kicked for peacefully counseling women and holding pro-life signs outside a Maryland Planned Parenthood. We are working with local authorities to make sure this vile attacker is identified, arrested, and charged to the full extent of the law. This cannot be swept under the rug. We have to send a message that we will fight not only for babies but also for the lifesaving workers and volunteers who devote themselves to defending the unborn, and anyone who attacks a pro-lifer will be held accountable to the full extent of the law.
Today’s full Sekulow broadcast includes more analysis of the impact of the Dobbs decision one year later and the numerous fights the ACLJ is engaged in right now to save unborn babies and defend the lifesaving work of pro-life professionals and volunteers alike. We’re also joined by Senator James Lankford, who has also been faithfully fighting to defend the unborn on Capitol Hill, to share his feelings a year after Dobbs.
June 24th is indeed a day worth commemorating. Dobbs was a tremendous win in the fight for life. But there is still so much urgent work to be done before we can even consider resting. And we need every ACLJ member to fight alongside us.
Watch the full broadcast below: