Welcome to the TMS Weekly Dispatch for June 9, 2025—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 the last edition of the Dispatch, you may read it by clicking here.  

Here's a look back at the past week: 

PRO-LIFE MARKETING ORGANIZATION FIGHTS MERITLESS LAWSUIT TARGETING ITS FREE SPEECH: Last week, Thomas More Society attorneys filed a reply brief in support of a motion to dismiss in Four Women Health Services v. Choose Life Marketing, in defense of the First Amendment rights of pro-life marketing agency Choose Life Marketing.

Four Women Health Services, an abortion business based in Massachusetts, alleged that the marketing services provided by Choose Life to pro-life pregnancy centers intentionally “mislead” and “deceive” women—when, in reality, Choose Life utilizes standard marketing practices employed widely throughout the abortion industry itself.

From the Brief:

“Four Women cannot sidestep the fact that governments would “suppress unpopular ideas or information” but for the First Amendment. Through its case, [the abortion business] is attempting to hijack commercial laws to suppress information: Four Women does not want “the speaker and the audience”—an audience of pregnant women that Four Women imagines it possesses monopoly over—to be free to “assess the value of information provided” in “a commercial marketplace…where ideas an information flourish.”  

Read case background in Four Women Health Services v. Choose Life Marketing here.

FEDERAL APPEALS DISMISSES PERSONHOOD CHALLENGE TO NEW YORK’S RADICAL ABORTION LAW: Back in 2021, Thomas More Society attorneys filed a pioneering fetal personhood lawsuit, Doe v. Hochul, in a challenge to New York’s 2019  ‘Reproductive Health Act,’ which permits abortion up until the moment of birth, and even allows for babies born alive during botched abortions to be left to die. New York’s RHA also rescinded legal penalties for fetal homicide.  

This case has been awaiting a decision on appeal until June 3, when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the lawsuit, once again dodging the question of fetal personhood and failing to work towards better protections of both women and children within the law. TMS’s original complaint highlighted the fatal loopholes contained within New York’s law, alleging that it is not only unconstitutional but also puts women and their preborn children in danger.  

From the Complaint:

“By disregarding the state’s obligation to promote the safety of women and by removing legal sanctions for fetal homicide and post-viability abortions that are not based on the life or physical health of the mother, while eliminating the second physician requirement for abortions performed after the twentieth week of pregnancy, the State has “affirmatively enhance[d] the risk of violence” against pregnant women seeking to continue their pregnancy to term, their viable unborn children, and children surviving abortions attempted after the twentieth week of pregnancy.”

Circuit Judge Richard J. Sullivan wrote in the Court’s June 3^rd decision in Doe v. Hochul:

“Because [the plaintiff] was not herself among the class of fetuses, she also moved to be appointed as “next friend” to the class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c)(2). Although [she] alleged that she was a social worker who had worked with pregnant mothers for over two decades, she did not identify or describe any specific fetus in the putative class, and did not name or otherwise identify a class representative to serve as the named plaintiff for the class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure.”

As demonstrated in the Court’s opinion, it remains largely unclear what recognized rights preborn children are allotted under the Constitution, and politicians like New York’s Kathy Hochul and Letitia James will continue to take advantage of these legal ambiguities to push a pro-abortion agenda, including silencing advocates for the preborn who have no other recourse under existing laws like the Reproductive Health Act. New York’s reaffirmation of its radical abortion law underscores the critical importance of protecting pregnancy centers and the life-affirming options that they provide, as well as pro-life sidewalk counselors who act as voices for the voiceless preborn.  

Learn more about how Thomas More Society continues defending lifesaving pregnancy centers in New York and across the nation.  

NEWLY RELEASED REPORTS REVEAL INDIANA ABORTIONISTS AREN’T FOLLOWING THE LAW: On May 31^st, the Indiana Department of Health released its “Terminated Pregnancy Report” and “Complications Report” for the first quarter of 2025, revealing what watchdog nonprofit Voices for Life already knew—Indiana’s abortionists are not following the law.

According to the new reports:  

• Out of 22 abortions reported in the first quarter, only 2 Terminated Pregnancy Reports were fully completed and submitted. These reports are required by Indiana state law and are supposed to ensure that abortion providers adhere to basic ethical, health, and safety standards.

• The state reported 20 abortion complications in just three months, 13 of which resulted from dangerous chemical abortion drugs.  

These reports dropped just days after “Abortion Pills By Mail” flyover ads made an appearance at the Indy 500 race over Memorial Weekend, promoting the drugs responsible for 63% of all abortions in the United States.

As it stands, a preliminary injunction blocks the public’s access to reviewing individual TPRs, closing off these vital public records from the public and watchdog organizations like Voices for Life. With this injunction in place, Hoosier State abortionists know they can evade transparency and flout state law. Thomas More Society and Voices for Life are now appealing the preliminary injunction, asking the court to reverse this order and restore transparency—as has been practiced for 30+ years in Indiana.

Thomas More Society client Voices for Life, continues its fight to achieve transparency from the abortion industry, and TMS continues to defend their right to access Terminated Pregnancy Reports, which are key to holding abortionists accountable—and keeping mothers and babies safe.  

Read the most recent case update in Caitlin Bernard M.D. and Caroline Rouse, M.D. v. Indiana State Health. Commissioner and Voices for Life here.

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO PROTECT CAKE ARTIST’S RELIGIOUS FREEDOM – APPEAL TO SCOTUS FORTHCOMING: On May 28, 2025, the California Supreme Court refused to hear California Department of Civil Rights v. Tastries, a lawsuit aiming to protect and uphold cake artist Cathy Miller’s First Amendment rights. Thomas More Society and Becket Fund for Religious Liberty are defending Cathy’s rights.

In 2017, Miller politely declined to design a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, expressing that doing so would directly contradict her Christian beliefs. Instead of respecting her religious freedom and suggesting the couple look elsewhere for their cake, the State of California opened a grueling investigation into Miller that has lasted almost a decade. Thomas More Society, in partnership with the Becket Fund, has defended Cathy throughout the contentious battle for her First Amendment rights, and will ask the United States Supreme Court to hear her case.  

“Cathy has always been clear that she was only trying to follow her faith and her conscience in standing up for what she believes in—and did so in a respectful, polite and loving way. While it is disappointing the California Supreme Court has refused to correct the injustice Cathy has endured, we hope the U.S. Supreme Court will chart a different path and restore Cathy’s religious liberty,” reacted Charles LiMandri, Thomas More Society Special Counsel.