Welcome to the TMS Weekly Dispatch for February 6, 2026—with the latest news and updates from the front line, to keep you in-the-know on all things Thomas More Society. If you missed last week’s edition, click here.  

Here's the latest from the past week:

CAN YOU READ MINDS? WESTCHESTER COUNTY SAYS PRO-LIFE SIDEWALK COUNSELORS MUST—OR FACE JAIL: For years, Oksana Hulinsky spent her days on the sidewalk outside an abortion facility in Westchester County, New York, offering hope, conversation, and practical help to women in crisis. Now, thanks to a 2022 county law that criminalizes speaking to someone after they make an "implied request to cease"—including silence, a blank stare, or simply walking away—Oksana no longer counsels at all. She sits in her car and prays.

Thomas More Society has filed an opening appeal brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, challenging the law's breathtaking demand that sidewalk counselors read minds or face criminal prosecution and up to a year in jail. The county's own attorneys have conceded that merely "walking around" a counselor or giving a "blank stare" could trigger criminal liability—yet they cannot identify a single instance of unlawful harassment by a pro-life advocate on a public sidewalk in Westchester County. The law was passed to solve a problem that never existed.

"This law turns ordinary conversation into a guessing game with jail time, financial ruin and the potential loss of preborn life as the penalty," said Christopher Ferrara, TMS Senior Counsel.

Read the full press release here.

KIRKWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMITS PROVIDING INAPPROPRIATE MATERIAL, MISLEADS PARENTS ON SOLUTION: After four years of relentless advocacy from Kirkwood for Educational Integrity (KFEI), a community group, Kirkwood School District (KSD) has finally admitted that it has been providing students with private access to inappropriate material on their school computers. However, the District's newest communications continue to mislead and undermine parents.

Thomas More Society has sent a formal demand letter to KSD after learning that the District's recent purported changes to its implementation of the Sora digital reading app have not actually taken place, and the District's representations to parents about the changes are misleading. While KSD told parents they will now have to "add access" to Sora reading collections with sexually explicit and inappropriate materials, no such limits have been imposed.

"Kirkwood School District has finally admitted what concerned parents at KFEI have been pointing out for years: they have been providing children with unrestricted access to abhorrent content since 2022," said Mary Catherine Martin, TMS Senior Counsel. "Despite that admission, they have yet to actually fix it. And even worse, they have informed parents that it's been taken care of, which will lead concerned parents to let down their guard."

Thomas More Society has requested a response from Kirkwood School District by February 19, 2026.

Read full press release here.  

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY SENIOR COUNSEL QUOTED IN OUR SUNDAY VISITOR ON COLORADO CATHOLIC PRESCHOOL CASE:  Thomas More Society, along with 20 other organizations, has filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief at the Supreme Court in support of St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, urging the Court to halt Colorado’s exclusion of Catholic preschool families from the state’s “universal” preschool funding program.

"Colorado is forcing families to choose between their faith and access to a generally available school choice program — which is no real choice at all," Michael McHale, TMS Senior Counsel, told Our Sunday Visitor. "In our amicus brief, we show that the lower court wrongfully treated deeply held religious beliefs like any mere personal preference to be disregarded at the state's whim. If left in place, this ruling gives states a blueprint to exclude religious parents and schools from school choice programs while claiming to be 'neutral.'"

Read the full article in Our Sunday Visitor here.

You can also read our amicus curiae brief here.  

DISORDERLY CONDUCT CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST PRO-LIFERS IN MEMPHIS RESCUE: On December 5, 2025, seventeen pro-life advocates—including Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller, Executive Director of Red Rose Rescue—were arrested during a peaceful demonstration at a Planned Parenthood facility in Memphis, TN and charged with trespass and disorderly conduct.  

Steve Crampton, TMS Senior Counsel, represented Dr. Miller and entered into intense negotiations with the Shelby County District Attorney, that resulted in the dismissal of all disorderly conduct charges for four defendants and no-contest pleas with time served for the remaining thirteen—no fines, no probation, no community service.

On February 3, the thirteen defendants appeared in court, where Dr. Miller addressed the judge on behalf of the entire group:  

"So when we went to the Planned Parenthood on December 5th, we wanted to spare the children who were going to be trafficked across state lines, to spare them a similar fate. We also wanted to help the moms... you have to offer them practical help, love, compassion and understanding for their circumstances, to give them hope... All of us here want to cultivate a culture that accepts everyone, embraces everyone and to push out the boundaries of justice and inclusion that includes unborn children who are right now an oppressed class."