Lawmakers respond to Planned Parenthood effort to subvert NC's pro-life laws
ADF attorneys represent NC speaker, president pro tempore in latest legal challenge from abortionists
GREENSBORO, N.C. – On behalf of North Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore and North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed an answer Monday in a federal district court asking the court to uphold the state’s pro-life laws. In the pleading, ADF attorneys explained that the lawmakers are seeking the best interest of women and girls in the state, and that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization allows duly-enacted pro-life laws like North Carolina’s to stand.
Speaker Moore and Sen. Berger, intervenors in the case Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Stein, are asking the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina to dismiss a challenge by abortionists and uphold North Carolina’s laws that promote the health and safety of women and children. Abortionists are challenging North Carolina’s amended pro-life laws, including the state’s requirement that doctors perform an ultrasound to screen for an ectopic pregnancy before distributing chemical abortion drugs and mandating that abortions be performed in a hospital after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
“Abortion is not health care, and North Carolina is free to protect the health and safety of women and girls in the state,” said ADF Legal Counsel Erica Steinmiller-Perdomo. “At 12 weeks, unborn babies already have a heartbeat, brain activity, and unique fingerprints. While abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood fight these laws to protect their bottom line, North Carolina is ensuring that life is protected and that women have real support with important safeguards in place.”
ADF attorneys have represented Moore and Berger in three other cases defending North Carolina’s pro-life laws: Bryant v. Stein, Bryant v. Woodall, and Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Moore.
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 Erica Steinmiller-Perdomo
Erica Steinmiller-Perdomo serves as legal counsel on Alliance Defending Freedom's Center for Public Policy. Her work focuses on protecting life from conception to natural death. Before joining ADF, Erica clerked on the Florida Supreme Court and Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal. She also served as a criminal prosecutor in the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office. Erica earned a Juris Doctor in 2015 from the Florida State University College of Law where she served as managing editor of the Law Review and vice president of the Cuban American Bar Association student chapter. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami. Erica is admitted to practice law in Florida and the District of Columbia.