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Reproductive Rights Profiles
Zach West’s Record Against Reproductive Freedom
We strongly oppose Zach West, Trump's pick to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
Key Takeaways
- Reproductive Freedom for All strongly opposes Zach West, Trump's pick to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
- Reproductive Freedom for All opposes Zach West's nomination due to his record of hostility toward reproductive freedom.
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- Zach West also worked to undermine other rights, including voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, racial justice and immigrant rights.
- Trump has a deeply troubling track record of nominating judges who oppose reproductive freedom, reflecting the Trump administration’s vision for courts that are hostile to the basic reproductive rights and freedoms for all.
Who is Zach West?
During his time at the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office, West worked to undermine fundamental rights, including reproductive freedom.
West defended several of the state’s extreme abortion bans, and defended clinics that received federal Title X funding but refused to provide referrals for abortion care.
West also has extensive connections with anti-reproductive freedom organizations, including Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the Federalist Society, and the Claremont Institute.
He has also worked to undermine other rights, including voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, racial justice and immigrant rights.
Dive Deeper: Zach West’s Anti-Repro Record
Defended Oklahoma’s Abortion Bans and Restrictions
Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (Dobbs), West defended numerous Oklahoma abortion bans and restrictions, including:
- A total ban on abortion that was enacted before Roe v. Wade,
- A ban on abortion before most people know they are pregnant,
- A law restricting which providers were able to prescribe medication abortion, and
- A law requiring providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals before being able to provide medication abortion care. This kind of burdensome requirement has no medical benefit and only seeks to impose barriers to abortion care.
After the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, Solicitor General West was lead counsel in a case defending a number of Oklahoma’s abortion bans, including the pre-Roe abortion ban that was amended by the legislature after Dobbs and contained criminal penalties for providing abortion care.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately struck down the amended abortion ban, but left the pre-Roe abortion ban in place.
As Solicitor General, West defended an Oklahoma ban on abortion before many people know they are pregnant that also encouraged neighbors to turn on each other for financial gain. The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down both laws on May 31, 2023.
While Refusing to Provide Abortion Referrals
As the Director of Special Litigation in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, West represented a state challenge to the Title X family planning program’s requirement that entities who received Title X funding must offer abortion referrals when requested by patients.
Title X is the only federal funding program dedicated solely to providing family planning services in the United States. Its providers offer essential health services—such as birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment—to young people and adults who have low incomes.
West personally argued the case in front of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and was listed as counsel of record at the U.S. Supreme Court, which in September 2024 declined 6–3 to order the funds restored on an emergency basis.
Anti-Reproductive Freedom Rhetoric
West’s anti-abortion commentary dates back to his time as a college journalist, when he authored a column in the University of Oklahoma student newspaper titled “Universal Health Care Exposes Pro-Choice Hypocrisy.” In the column, West used medically inaccurate and inflammatory language to describe standard abortion care.
In October 2021, with Dobbs pending at the Supreme Court, West was a panelist for the Federalist Society’s Oklahoma City student chapter titled “Dobbs: Considering Dobbs, Oklahoma & Texas Abortion Laws, and How They Intersect.”
Affiliations with Anti-Reproductive Freedom Organizations
West is a member of organizations that work to advance anti-reproductive freedom agendas.
West was an intern and mentor for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) from 2009 to 2011.
Alliance Defending Freedom is a Christian, conservative-led legal organization that advocates for and litigates in support of anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ policies. The Southern Poverty Law Center designates ADF as a “hate group” for ADF’s anti-LGBTQ+ work.
West has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2015 and has spoken at Federalist Society events at least four times, including the 2021 Dobbs panel described above and “Supreme Court Roundup” panels in 2024 and 2025.
The Federalist Society is a well-funded, conservative legal network that exerts influence through law schools, professional networks, and conferences, and over the judiciary at large. It serves as a talent and influence pipeline for the conservative movement to cultivate young lawyers and then pack the courts with judges who will execute their unpopular agenda, which includes undermining reproductive freedom.
West was a John Marshall Fellow for the Claremont Institute in 2013. The Claremont Institute is a conservative-led think tank that champions anti-civil rights work, which includes undermining reproductive freedom. The Claremont Institute takes an anti-reproductive freedom stance and has filed numerous amicus briefs endorsing the erosion of reproductive freedom, including filing an amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
West was a member of the Christian Legal Society from 2008 to 2021, served as President of its University of Oklahoma College of Law chapter from 2009 to 2011, and has continued to present to the chapter as recently as 2022. The Christian Legal Society filed an amicus brief in Dobbs urging the Supreme Court to uphold Mississippi’s abortion ban.
Career
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Oklahoma, 2008
- Juris Doctor, University of Oklahoma College of Law, 2011
- Alliance Defending Freedom, 2009-2011
- Summer Intern, 2009
- Mentor, 2011
- Clerk to the Hon. J. Leon Holmes, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, 2011-2012
- John Marshall Fellow, Claremont Institute, 2013
- Clerk to the Hon. Bobby R. Baldock, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 2013-2015
- Office of Senator Ted Cruz, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 2015-2017
- Counsel, Oversight Subcommittee, 2015-2017
- Senior Counsel, Subcommittee on the Constitution, 2017
- Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General, 2017-Present
- Assistant Solicitor General, 2017-2022
- Deputy Solicitor General, 2022
- Acting Solicitor General, 2022
- Solicitor General, 2022-2023
- Director of Special Litigation, 2023-Present
The Big Picture
Trump has a deeply troubling track record of nominating judges who oppose reproductive freedom, reflecting the Trump administration’s vision for courts that are hostile to the basic reproductive rights and freedoms for all.
Decisions made by these judges will impact our health, access to care, and daily lives, and we deserve to know whether these nominees are committed to fairness and equality under the law or if they are beholden to an ideology or agenda opposing reproductive freedom.
Citations and Sources
- Zach West, Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Aug. 19, 2026).
- See Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Plaintiffs’ Motion for Temporary Injunction, Okla. Call for Reproductive Justice v. O'Connor, No. 21-cv-02072 (Okla. Dist. Ct. Oct. 6, 2021).
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- See H.B. 1102, 2021 Leg., 58th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Okla. 2021).
- See H.B. 2441, 58th Leg., Reg. Sess. (Okla. 2021)
- See S.B. 778, 58th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Okla. 2021).
- See S.B. 779, 58th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Okla. 2021).
- See Answer to Petitioners’ Brief in Chief., Okla. Call for Reproductive Justice v. O'Connor, No. 119918 (Okla. Sup. Ct. 2022); Okla. Call for Reprod. Justice v. Drummond, 2023 OK 24, 526 P.3d 1123 (Okla. 2023) (per curiam).
- See Okla. Call for Reprod. Justice v. Drummond, 2023 OK 24, 526 P.3d 1123 (Okla. 2023) (per curiam).
- Okla. Call for Reprod. Justice v. State, 2023 OK 60 (Okla. May 31, 2023).
- Okla. Call for Reprod. Justice v. State, 2023 OK 60 (Okla. May 31, 2023); Sean Murphy, Oklahoma High Court Strikes Down 2 Abortion Bans; Procedure Remains Illegal in Most Cases, Associated Press (May 31, 2023), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/oklahoma-high-court-strikes-2-abortion-bans-rcna87141.
- Oklahoma v. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., 107 F.4th 1209 (10th Cir. 2024), https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/files/opinions/010111079171.pdf (slip op. at 3–4, 7–8; Federico, J., dissenting, at 8–9).
- Oklahoma v. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., No. 24A146 (U.S. Sept. 3, 2024) (denying application for injunction; Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, JJ., would grant); Barbara Hoberock, Oklahoma Suffers High Court Loss over Policy That Prohibits Educating Women About Abortion Services, Okla. Voice (Sept. 4, 2024), https://oklahomavoice.com/2024/09/04/oklahoma-suffers-high-court-loss-over-policy-that-prohibits-educating-women-about-abortion-services/; West SJQ, supra note 1, at 46.
- Zach West, Universal Health Care Exposes Pro-Choice Hypocrisy, Oklahoma Daily (Apr. 2, 2010) (listed in West SJQ, supra note 1, at 6; copy supplied to the Committee).
- Zach West, Attachment Package for Question 12(a) of the Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, p. 13, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Aug. 19, 2026).
- No notes or transcripts of the event were provided by the nominee. See related Federalist Society bullets in the Affiliations with Anti-Reproductive Freedom Organizations section below.
- West SJQ, supra note 1, at 31.
- West SJQ, supra note 1, at 2-3.
- HRC Staff, Alliance Defending Freedom: Staunch Enemy of Equality, Human Rights Campaign (Jan. 22, 2024), https://www.hrc.org/news/alliance-defending-freedom-staunch-enemy-of-equality.
- Alliance Defending Freedom, Southern Poverty Law Center (last visited Sept. 1, 2026), https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/alliance-defending-freedom/#in-its-own-words.
- 2013 John Marshall Fellows, Claremont Institute (last visited Sept. 4, 2026), https://www.claremont.org/2013-john-marshall-fellows/.
- Carson Holloway, Next Steps for the Pro-Life Movement, The Claremont Institute Center for the American Way of Life (Oct. 13, 2022), https://dc.claremont.org/next-steps-for-the-pro-life-movement/.
- Brief of Amicus Curiae The Claremont Institute’s Center For Constitutional Jurisprudence, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215, 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022).
- Brief of Amici Curiae Christian Legal Society and Robertson Center for Constitutional Law in Support of Petitioners, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., No. 19-1392 (U.S. July 28, 2021), https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-1392/185104/20210728115957257_19-1392%20Amicus%20Brief%20%20Christian%20Legal%20Society%20et%20al.pdf.
- Barbara Hoberock, Anti-Abortion Group Backs Law Putting Restrictions on Oklahoma’s Initiative Process, Okla. Voice (July 23, 2025), https://oklahomavoice.com/2025/07/23/anti-abortion-group-backs-law-putting-restrictions-on-oklahomas-initiative-process/.
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