Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
Description: The Gestational Age Act is a Mississippi law that protects unborn children, the health of pregnant mothers, and the integrity of the medical profession based on the latest science by protecting life after 15 weeks in gestational age—a point in time when babies can move and stretch, hiccup, and quite likely feel pain—permitting abortions only in medical emergencies or for severe fetal abnormality. Mississippi’s law highlights a conflict between the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade and the court’s repeated affirmation in subsequent cases that states have a legitimate interest in protecting “vulnerable and innocent life” from the moment of conception.
ADF attorney to testify on Dobbs decision at House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday
WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, who served as counsel to Mississippi for the U.S. Supreme Court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
WHAT: Testifying before the U.S. House Oversight Committee at its hearing, “The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision on Abortion Rights and Access Across the United States”
WHEN: Wednesday, July 13, beginning at 10 a.m. EDT
WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2157, Washington
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Bernadette Tasy at (480) 356-0324. A livestream of the hearing will be available here.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Erin Morrow Hawley
Erin Morrow Hawley serves as senior counsel and vice president of the Center for Life and regulatory practice at Alliance Defending Freedom. Before joining ADF, Hawley practiced appellate law at Kirkland and Ellis LLP, Bancroft LLP, and King & Spalding LLP. Hawley has litigated extensively before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as numerous federal courts of appeals and state courts of last resort. She also worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, serving as counsel to Attorney General Michael Mukasey. As an academic, Hawley served as an associate professor of law at the University of Missouri and she also taught constitutional law as a senior fellow at the Kinder Institute for Constitutional Democracy. Hawley is a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Hawley received her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from Texas A&M University and her law degree from Yale Law School where she served as a Coker Fellow in Constitutional Law and on the Yale Law Journal. She is an active member of the Missouri and District of Columbia bars and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and various federal courts of appeals.
ABOUT Kristen Waggoner
As the CEO, president, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, Kristen Waggoner leads the faith-based legal organization in protecting fundamental freedoms and promoting the inherent dignity of all people throughout the U.S. and around the world. Waggoner oversees the efforts of more than 400 ADF team members in seven global offices as well as nearly 5,000 network attorneys engaged in litigation, legislation, training, funding, and public advocacy. ADF also provides legal counsel to over 3,500 churches and ministries through its Ministry Alliance program and defends the persecuted church in dozens of countries. Since 2011, ADF has won 15 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, including serving on Mississippi’s legal team in the case that overturned Roe v. Wade. Waggoner successfully argued three of those cases: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Uzuebgunam v. Presczewski, and 303 Creative v. Elenis. She is a Peer Review Rated AV® Preeminent™ attorney in Martindale-Hubbell, who clerked for Justice Richard B. Sanders of the Washington Supreme Court after law school and served in private practice in Seattle for nearly 20 years.