Erik Baptist, head of the Center for Life at the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, outlined aggressive legal strategies targeting chemical abortion and state-level protections for providers shipping abortion medications across state lines during the recent National Pro-Life Summit, reports the Guardian.
ADF, one of the foremost conservative advocacy organizations in the U.S., is known for its key role in dismantling Roe v. Wade and for advocating for strict legal frameworks surrounding abortion.
"We do have a comprehensive approach to lawsuits and what we're trying to do. We're obviously trying to win in courts and try to protect as many unborn lives as we can and support mothers who [are] in unplanned pregnancies. And how we execute that manifests itself in multiple ways," said Baptist.
"We have brought cases on behalf of pregnant centers, sidewalk counselors, pro-life doctors, and we'll continue to do that."
He told the Guardian the ADF is poised to have a big year.
Abortion is a divisive issue in U.S. politics and was a major issue in the 2024 campaign won by Trump. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion, leaving abortion laws to each of the 50 states.
The Justice Department's new leadership under Trump ordered cutbacks on Friday on federal prosecutions of people accused of blocking access to reproductive health centers and abortion clinics, calling such cases a "weaponization" of law enforcement.
Baptist said the executive branch "on its own accord, without litigation, can do the right thing as well."
But if the ADF has to sue, he said it will.
"Since 2011, we have won 15 times at the U.S. Supreme Court, and ultimately a lot of our lawsuits end up there," he told the Guardian. "So you may have losses along the way, but when you have the ultimate victory from the Supreme Court, that's the most important one to judge our cases by."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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