Welcome to the TMS Weekly Dispatch for April 14, 2025—with the latest news and updates from the front line, to keep you in-the-know on all things Thomas More Society. If you missed last week’s Dispatch, you may read it by clicking here.  

Here’s a look back at the past week:

TMS LETTER LIFTS VEIL ON PRO-ABORTION GROUP’S NATIONAL ATTACK AGAINST PREGNANCY CENTERS: The national pro-abortion activist group Campaign for Accountability (CfA) isn’t concerned with accountability. The organization, ostensibly meant to “hold the powerful accountable,” instead spends much of its time harassing pro-life pregnancy centers that offer free, compassionate care and resources to women in need.

CfA lodged complaints against two Idaho pregnancy centers affiliated with Heartbeat International, claiming that these small pro-life nonprofits engage in “consumer deception” and “misleading clients”—baseless claims for which they don't even bother showing any evidence. On April 11, Thomas More Society attorneys sent a formal letter to the Idaho Attorney General debunking CfA’s claims and requesting that the AG’s office dismiss the complaints against Idaho’s pregnancy centers. The Thomas More Society letter stresses that CfA’s lawfare is part of the abortion lobby’s new national legal strategy to try and silence lifesaving efforts of pro-life ministries.

FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES CALIFORNIA EDUCATION OFFICIALS’ BID TO END CHALLENGE TO GENDER SECRECY RULES: On April 10, a U.S. District court judge denied a motion to dismiss our lawsuit against “Parental Exclusion Polices,” Mirabelli v. Olson. The ruling allows the case to move forward as the battle to protect the rights of parents, children, and teachers continues.  

Honorable Roger T. Benitez wrote in the Order Denying Motion to Dismiss:

 “If the Defendants made a commitment to not enforcing the FAQs policy against voluntary teacher disclosure and entered into a consent judgment binding themselves  and their successors in office, that would likely moot Plaintiffs’ case. In the meantime, the actual chilling effect of the FAQs policy on Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights   remains. Therefore, the case is not moot. The motion to dismiss is denied.”

“We’re encouraged by the Court’s ruling, and we will keep prosecuting this case until we obtain permanent, class-wide relief for parents, children, and teachers, by putting the final nail in the coffin of California’s Parental Exclusion Policies,” celebrated Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society Special Counsel.  

NOTICE OF APPEAL FILED IN CASE TO PROTECT ILLINOIS PREGNANCY CENTERS: On Wednesday, Thomas More Society filed notice of appeal in Schroeder, et al. v. Treto, Jr., seeking a federal court ruling striking down Illinois' abortion referral mandate.

On April 4, 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Iain D. Johnston issued a split decision in the case, striking down a provision of Illinois’ Health Care Right of Conscience Act that sought to compel pro-life pregnancy centers to parrot pro-abortion talking points whilst upholding the provision that required them to refer for abortion. Thomas More Society looks forward to continuing its advocacy on behalf of Illinois’ pro-life pregnancy centers in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

ILLINOIS APPELLATE COURT RULES ROCKFORD OFFICIALS WRONGLY ALLOWED RESIDENTIAL ABORTION FACILITY: Last week, the Illinois Appellate Court Fourth District ruled that a residential abortion facility had been erroneously allowed to operate under a “special use permit.” The ruling follows a lawsuit brought by Thomas More Society attorneys on behalf of Rockford residents and pro-life advocates against Dr. Dennis Christensen, the abortionist who owns Rockford Family Planning Center. Further review of Dr. Christensen’s abortion business will take place, which may lead to the potential closure of the residential abortion business due to zoning violations.  

From the court’s decision:

“...the Board clearly erred in determining the defendant doctor and clinic’s proposed use was consistent with a decades-old prior legal nonconforming use established by a special use permit; and subsequently, the trial court erred in affirming the Board and granting defendants’ motion to dismiss.”

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF FIRST AMENDMENT CASE: Thomas More Society filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Rory Douglas Wilson v. Idaho, a case concerning the First Amendment rights of a student who posted stickers around Moscow, Idaho criticizing the city’s enforcement of public health measures restricting assembly and speech during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.  

The student, Rory Wilson, was convicted and sentenced to probation, with the condition that he write an essay on “appropriate civil discourse.” Wilson now asks the Supreme Court to hear his case and vindicate his First Amendment rights. Thomas More Society’s brief argues that the First Amendment guarantees that government cannot compel private citizens towards any kind of speech and urges the Supreme Court to grant Wilson’s petition to protect private citizens against government-compelled speech.  

Here’s an excerpt from the brief:

“…the First Amendment protects the right of young people like [Rory] to shop their views in the marketplace of ideas. America is the better off because of it: thirtysomethings Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison wrote our Declaration of Independence, most of the Federalist Papers that helped knit our nation, and a Bill of Rights that keeps that nation one of, by, and for the people even in times of crisis. So often only the young can afford to become iconic iconoclasts.”