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Activism 101 Deep Dives
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF): The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Legal Powerhouse
A Hall of Shame standout: ADF is an anti-abortion legal organization that helped orchestrate the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Key Takeaways
- Who Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is: A powerful anti-abortion legal organization that’s been classified as a hate group for their extremism.
- How they operate: Cherry-picking anti-abortion judges to hear their cases—taking away reproductive rights from people across the country.
- Why it matters: They drafted and defended the law that led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade—and they’re not stopping there.
⚡️ TL; DR (too long, didn’t read):
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has been critical in taking away reproductive freedom across the country—from helping draft and defending the law that overturned Roe v. Wade, to undermining contraceptive access.
ADF has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They purposefully champion unpopular, extremist legislation and cherry-picki anti-abortion judges who will rule in their favor and impose bans on reproductive care through the courts.
Thanks to their allies in the Trump administration and Congress, ADF’s efforts to dismantle reproductive freedom continue. They’re targeting mifepristone in an attempt to create a backdoor national ban on abortion.
Fight back against anti-abortion extremism with us.
🔍 A Closer Look: Alliance Defending Freedom’s Anti-Abortion Playbook
Alliance Defending Freedom is behind some of the most consequential court cases impacting reproductive freedom.
How they do it:
They write "model legislation" that gets adopted into law
ADF drafts model laws that their allies in state legislatures take up and pass. For example, multiple Republican-majority states are pushing legislation drafted by ADF to increase protections for fake abortion centers—also called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). These "clinics" are actually anti-abortion extremist orgs that lie, shame, and mislead patients to prevent them from accessing abortion and other forms of reproductive health care.
They defend abortion bans (and more) in court
ADF defends abortion bans in courts when they are inevitably challenged for their extremism. They also defend other extreme anti-freedom measures that impact access to contraception, emergency abortion care, and more.
They cherry-pick judges
ADF cherry-picks judges who they know share their extremist beliefs. Many federal judges have notable connections with Alliance Defending Freedom.
They challenge rulings against their extreme beliefs
ADF is behind high profile court cases like the SCOTUS case that allowed Hobby Lobby to block their employees’ access to birth control, and several upcoming SCOTUS cases including one that seeks to rollback LGBTQ protections in Colorado, another that attacks transgender athletes, and another that seeks to protect anti-abortion centers.
They create the national, legal precedent for restricting fundamental rights
ADF test-drives laws and cases in the states that set the stage to restrict reproductive freedom nationwide, like what they did in the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade.
They run high-profile pressure campaigns
ADF successfully pressured Costco into restricting mifepristone from being dispensed in its pharmacies, and announced plans to target CVS and Walgreens next.
📝 Their Anti-Abortion Record: ADF’s Hall of Shame Scorecard
Influence: 👎👎👎👎👎
ADF drafted and defended the law that overturned Roe v. Wade—and now they’re throwing their weight behind bans on medication abortion, access to emergency contraception, and more. In 2022, ADF authored at least 130 bills in 34 states; more than 30 were passed into law. ADF has won 15 Supreme Court cases, including overturning Roe v. Wade.
Extremism: 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
ADF champions total abortion bans, represents states that are making reproductive health care inaccessible to millions, defends extremists who protest reproductive care clinics, challenges the right to emergency abortion care, and more. ADF has led key fights against LGBTQIA+ communities in the courts, especially focused on attacking transgender rights, and gender-affirming care.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) lists ADF as a hate group because of its anti-LGBTQIA+ extremism.
Harm: 💔💔💔💔💔
Bans like the ones that ADF defends have denied people emergency medical care, led to trauma and preventable deaths, and criminalized patients, providers, and helpers—creating fear, hardship, and confusion for doctors and families nationwide. Their efforts jeopardize rights and health care access for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Lies & Disinformation: 🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥
In the courts, ADF pushes disinformation about contraception and emergency contraception, defends baseless restrictions to abortion care, and champions lies from anti-abortion protestors who claim their protest was a religious ceremony.
👺 Notable Connections
Litigator and Vice President at ADF
Erin Hawley
Hawley argued court cases attacking mifepristone and she's representing an anti-abortion center in an upcoming Supreme Court Case. She worked on the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade and is married to an anti-abortion U.S. Senator, Josh Hawley.
U.S. Solicitor General Sauer
John Sauer
The man now responsible for representing the federal government in front of the Supreme Court participated in numerous ADF trainings. Throughout his career, John Sauer has led litigation to undermine access to reproductive health care, partnered with anti-abortion organizations, and gave substantial funds to organizations that oppose access to abortion and contraception.
President of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)
Kristen Waggoner
As president of Alliance Defending Freedom, Kristen Waggoner has led efforts to use the organization’s vast legal network to advance an extreme anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQIA+ agenda through the courts.
Under Waggoner’s leadership, ADF served as legal counsel with Mississippi in the landmark Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade, and brought the ongoing lawsuit that aims to challenge FDA approval of mifepristone.
Judge
Jordan Pratt
An extreme Trump judge confirmed to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida was an ADF fellow during law school.
Judge
Joshua Dunlap
An extreme Trump judge confirmed to United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit who was an ADF legal intern during law school.
Judge
Justin Olson
An extreme Trump judge confirmed to the Southern District of Indiana is a member of ADF and the Federalist Society.
🚨ADF’s Latest Hits on Reproductive Freedom
- Red states move to protect crisis pregnancy centers using model legislation drafted by Alliance Defending Freedom
- Alliance Defending Freedom is leading a lawsuit to ban mifepristone.
- ADF is taking their anti-abortion playbook to attack LGBTQIA+ rights in the courts.
- Chiles v. Salazar: SCOTUS to Weigh In on Protecting LGBTQ+ Youth from Harmful Conversion Therapy
- Costco has refused to stock mifepristone in its 500 pharmacies nationwide after pressure from anti-abortion groups.
- What is Alliance Defending Freedom (NY Times)
- The Next Targets for The Group that Overturned Roe (The New Yorker)
- “Alliance Defending Freedom: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)”
- “How one Christian legal group is shaping policy, from abortion to LGBTQ rights” (NPR)
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More Reading
Deep Dives Activism 101
The Federalist Society: How the Anti-Abortion Movement Stacked the Courts with Extremists
Deep Dives Activism 101
The Heritage Foundation: Anti-Abortion Policy Architects
Deep Dives Activism 101