As the nation responds to the United States Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Thomas More Society is celebrating this momentous victory for the cause of life. The high court’s decision brings about the downfall of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which “culminates nearly fifty years of erudite scholarly legal critiques of Roe’s spurious and contrived rationale,” according to the pro-life law firm’s leader, Tom Brejcha.

Brejcha, Thomas More Society Founder, President, and Chief Counsel, referenced Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion, with which he concurs, that Roe was not only wrong but “egregiously wrong.”

The Thomas More Society has been deeply invested in the status of Roe for nearly 25 years. These attorneys represent the nation’s most renowned pro-life leaders. Additionally, the Thomas More Society has been directly involved with this historic United States Supreme Court case via three separate amicus/amici filings, each supporting Dobbs in the State of Mississippi’s action to curb abortion.

Andrew Bath, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and General Counsel, shared how the not-for-profit public interest law firm provided key input to the Supreme Court as it was considering Dobbs.

“Our efforts appear to have paid off,” explained Bath. “We filed an important Amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case and arranged for two other briefs to be filed, all so we could make several key points to guide the court to the correct result in this pivotal case. First and most importantly, we clearly laid out the ways the court got the law wrong when deciding Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. There simply was no right to abortion hiding in the constitution until the Roe court found it in 1973.”

“Next, we argued that the court got the science of fetal development wrong,” Bath detailed, adding that since then, “There have been advances in medicine and in our understanding of fetal development that have made Roe even more out of touch with science now than it was when it was decided almost 50 years ago.”

Bath added:

“We also pointed out that new statutes known as ‘Safe Haven’ laws have since been passed by every state in the union. Those laws permit mothers to drop off unwanted babies at safe places like hospitals, so it is now never true that a mother will be forced to raise a child she doesn't want or thinks she can’t afford.”

“Lastly,” shared Bath, “We urged the court to recognize and emphasize the humanity of the unborn child and find that the humanity of the unborn differentiates claims of abortion rights from that of any other right.”

“In short, we dismantled every single one of the abortion industry’s main arguments for the infant slaughter that has been the law of the land in our country for nearly 50 years,” Bath summarized. He noted that each of these key points was emphasized in the majority opinion in Dobbs.

The Thomas More Society’s contribution to the Dobbs outcome comes as no surprise. Defending and supporting the pro-life cause is both its origin story and its reason for existence. Brejcha spoke of the late Joe Scheidler, the “Godfather of Pro-Life Activism,” whose 28-year legal battle against the abortion industry brought about the birth of Thomas More Society in the landmark NOW v. Scheidler lawsuit. That case took Brejcha and Scheidler before the United States Supreme Court on three separate occasions. He named Scheidler as one of the pro-life “heroes who labored in the vineyard” and were defended by the Thomas More Society.

In connection with NOW v. Scheidler, Brejcha lauded the late Norma McCorvey – the “Roe” in Roe v. Wade – and the late Sandra Cano, who was the “Doe” in Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe, for their change in heart. He described how each of these women moved from their role as pawns of the abortion industry to become pro-life advocates.

“Both ladies (McCorvey and Cano) had never testified in court before testifying in NOW vs. Scheidler to defend pro-life activism,” explained Brejcha.

Brejcha also saluted the late U.S. Congressman, Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois, author of the Hyde Amendment, who testified that abortion centers were equivalent to Auschwitz and Dachau.

“Today’s pro-life victory is still only one more step in our ongoing crusade for the sacred cause we serve,” continued Brejcha. He noted that the Dobbs decision will not end abortion. “Instead, it will shift our battles to each of the fifty states. We have cause to celebrate Dobbs as a landmark event, but we must persevere and even intensify our efforts toward ending this scourge of abortion, once and for all, as it still bloodies our nation and corrupts our culture.”

Bath concurred, adding: “The Thomas More Society stands ready to confront all the new challenges this blockbuster opinion will bring to the pro-life movement even as we celebrate the court’s decision to finally and completely overrule its dreadful decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.”

Read the entire statement issued by Thomas More Society Founder, President, and Chief Counsel Tom Brejcha in response to the June 24, 2022, United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, here.