One year ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—overturning Roe v. Wade.

Since Roe v. Wade, pro-lifers have marched in the streets every snowy January, protested, prayed, and held vigils outside of abortion facilities. For decades, the pro-life movement has worked tirelessly to counsel abortion-minded women on the sidewalks, raised funds and donated resources for pregnant mothers, challenged unjust laws in the courtrooms, and passed life-affirming laws in the halls of legislatures—all to bring about a pro-life future in the United States.

Many of our prayers were answered on June 24, 2022, when the decision in Dobbs was announced from the Supreme Court bench. Going forward, pro-lifers no longer march on the anniversary of that calamitous 1973 ruling legalizing abortion across the country. Instead, today is our day of celebration and joy—a celebration of the miracle of life.

When Dobbs was still being considered by the Supreme Court, Thomas More Society filed two amici curiae briefs to our nation’s highest court, to buttress the arguments against legal abortion.

Thomas Brejcha, Founder and President, with Paul Linton, filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Thomas More Society, detailing how the legal abortion regime as invented by Roe was not a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution, and indefensible as a matter of law and history.

Also, on behalf of Illinois Right to Life, Thomas More Society’s Joan Mannix and Thomas Olp filed an amicus brief arguing that all preborn human beings are protected under the Fourteenth Amendment.

With the greatest barrier to building a pro-life future now gone, the fight for life has only intensified across the country. We now face countless battles in courtrooms and legislatures in every state, and a pro-abortion movement that advocates abortion-without-limits. Where abortion remains permitted, countless preborn lives demand our protection and tireless defense.

Building a pro-life future

After Dobbs, the battle to abolish abortion has shifted dramatically—with new opportunities and obstacles to building a pro-life future. Thomas More Society has intensified its work, from challenging unjust laws to protecting the rights of pro-life advocates who minister to abortion-minded women across the country:
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●     Thomas More Society is fighting back against unconstitutional “buffer” and “bubble” zone laws that prohibit pro-life speech near abortion facilities. We are pursuing lawsuits against municipalities like Clearwater, Florida; Carbondale, Illinois; Westchester County, New York; and Minneapolis, Minnesota—to protect the free speech and religious exercise of pro-life sidewalk counselors, whose life-affirming work is often the last line of defense against abortion.

●    We are continuing to defend pro-life advocates against politically-motivated prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE—which has included Mark Houck, who was acquitted by a jury of all charges earlier this year. Our other pro-life advocates facing ongoing prosecution also include Paul Vaughn. As recently as this month, we are once again defending Red Rose Rescue and Fr. Fidelis Moscinski against unjust prosecution by the New York State Attorney General.

●    In Illinois, we’re also gearing up to defend pregnancy help centers and sidewalk counselors against Senate Bill 1909—expected to be signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the immediate future. This Illinois bill targets pregnancy help ministries and classifies their constitutionally-protected speech as “deceptive business practices”—potentially leading to financially ruinous fines and prosecutions.

These examples represent only a fraction of the cases Thomas More Society is leading since that monumental day last June. Roe v. Wade may be gone, but the fight to defend unborn life has only intensified. With this, the pro-life movement must strive to meet the challenges that come with the next phase on the road to abolishing abortion nationwide.

Earlier this month, Thomas More Society’s Peter Breen joined a host of pro-life leaders, scholars, and activists in signing Live Action’s “Equal Protection Coalition Letter.” The letter calls on the pro-life movement and elected officials to follow our “North Star”: Equal Protection for preborn life, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. “The pro-life movement must direct its steps according to the existing guarantee in our Constitution that secures equal protection for all,” the letter states.

With this in mind, let us celebrate the end of Roe v. Wade—and set our sights on all the work that must continue in order to secure and defend the sanctity of life wherever it is threatened.

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