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
Kristen Waggoner is the CEO, president, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom: the world’s largest legal organization advancing every person’s God-given right to live and speak the truth. With more than 450 team members in 10 offices worldwide, ADF is at the forefront of today’s most consequential battles in law, public policy, and culture. Under Waggoner’s leadership—first as head of U.S. litigation and now as CEO—ADF has played a role in 80 U.S. Supreme Court victories and won 15 of its own cases before the court, including serving as legal counsel with Mississippi in the landmark Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. Waggoner personally argued several of ADF’s Supreme Court cases including the well-known Masterpiece Cakeshop and 303 Creative cases, winning major victories for free expression. She has the honor of leading ADF International, which, like its U.S. counterpart, defends religious liberty, free speech, parental rights, human life, and biological reality around the world. After law school, Waggoner clerked at the Washington Supreme Court and spent over 15 years at a Seattle law firm before joining ADF.