Four More Pro-Life Victories in the Wake of Dobbs

The decision of the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. JWHO to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey was a historic and momentous victory for babies in the womb, their mothers, and the American people. That victory has now led to a series of victories in other pro-life litigation in which the ACLJ has played a supporting role.

First, the Supreme Court itself, a few days after deciding Dobbs, erased (“vacated”) lower court rulings against pro-life laws in two other cases and sent the cases back to the lower courts “for further consideration in light of Dobbs.”

In one case, Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, a federal appeals court had affirmed a federal court injunction against a parental notice requirement for minors seeking abortion. We had filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief in that case urging the Supreme Court to grant review. In the other case, Rutledge v. Little Rock Family Planning Services, a different federal appeals court had held unconstitutional a state law banning abortions done because the baby has Down Syndrome. We filed an amicus brief in that case as well, urging Supreme Court review.

In both Box and Rutledge, the Supreme Court granted the petitions for review, vacated the lower court decisions, and sent the cases back for reconsideration. This is a victory, since both of the lower court decisions had gone against the pro-life laws. Now, in light of Dobbs, the federal constitutional challenges to these laws should fail.

But the follow-on wins were not limited to the U.S. Supreme Court. In two heartbeat law cases, federal district courts have suspended injunctions against the pro-life laws.

In Ohio, a federal district court had (improperly) enjoined enforcement of an entire pro-life law that we had helped draft. We filed an amicus brief urging the district court to scale back its overbroad order. The district court sat on the case for over two years. But the very same day the Supreme Court decided Dobbs, the Ohio attorney general filed a motion to dissolve the injunction and let the law go into effect. That same day, the district court granted the motion, making the Ohio Heartbeat Protection Act operative.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, a federal district court had granted a preliminary injunction against that state’s heartbeat law (also modeled on the bill we helped draft). That court, like the one in Ohio, issued an improperly overbroad injunction against the entire bill. When the state appealed, we filed an amicus brief – twice – attacking the overbreadth of the injunction. First, we filed in support of the appeal. Then, after the court of appeals upheld the entire injunction, we filed in support of rehearing. When the Dobbs decision was released, however, Planned Parenthood immediately sought to drop its own request for an injunction, and the state sought an immediate stay of the injunction. The day after Dobbs, the district court granted a stay of its preliminary injunction, allowing the state heartbeat bill to go into effect.

The long-overdue demise of Roe and Casey has lifted federal judicial handcuffs from many pro-life laws. The abortion forces will surely strike back, but in the meantime, we rejoice to see a number of pro-life legal victories.

The four cases discussed above represent just some of the work we’ve been doing defending state laws in many different states. On top of this, we have just launched a 50-state campaign to defend pro-life laws and defeat abortion nationwide.