TMS WEEKLY DISPATCH 8/21/26
Here’s the latest news from the past week at Thomas More Society, in our legal battles defending life, family, and freedom.
Welcome to the TMS Weekly Dispatch for August 21, 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.
TMS AND LIVE ACTION REJECT PRO-ABORTION GROUP'S DEMAND TO STOP CALLING ABORTION “KILLING” : Live Action, one of the nation’s leading human rights organizations, and Thomas More Society released a statement in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent from pro-abortion legal group Amplify Legal, which is affiliated with parent organization Abortion in America, which is a project of George Soros’ Hopewell Fund.
The letter, which was posted online, argued that Live Action News published “false and defamatory” articles about 13 clients, all individuals who chose to publicly share their abortion stories. It demands that Live Action remove all related published material and immediately retract statements where abortion is described as “killing” preborn children.
“Amplify Legal's ‘demand letter’ is a meritless threat aimed at silencing Live Action's pro-life speech, not winning a lawsuit,” said Peter Breen, TMS Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation. “The abortion advocacy group behind this letter could not cite a single case supporting its brazen attempt to prevent pro-life advocates from calling abortion what it is— ‘killing’—and even the US Supreme Court has used the term in the context of abortion.”
“Abortion is an act of killing. It deliberately ends the life of a living human child,” said Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose. “Threats will not stop us from calling abortion what it is or from fighting for the right of every child to live.”
Read our full press release here.
Media Roundup:
- Fox News: “Pro-life publisher facing demands to retract calling abortion ‘killing’ fires back: 'The answer is No'”
- Fox News (video): “‘Courthouse door is open’: Attorney fires back at legal threat over calling abortion 'killing’”
- Family Research Council, Washington Watch with Tony Perkins: Peter Breen on the Soros-backed group trying to stop Live Action from reporting on abortion.
- Blaze Media: “‘Threats will not stop us’: Lila Rose's pro-life group tells radicals to pound sand after legal threat over calling abortion ‘killing’"
NJ GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL LIMITING PRO-LIFE SPEECH: On Thursday, August 20, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a bill that prohibits “interference” with abortion and ‘transgender’ services. This new legislation poses severe threat to the First Amendment rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors seeking to offer life-affirming alternatives to abortion-vulnerable women outside of an abortion business.
ORAL ARGUMENT SCHEDULED IN LOPEZ V. CITY OF SAN DIEGO: Oral argument in Thomas More Society's case Lopez v. City of San Diego has been scheduled for Thursday, October 29, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Roger Lopez is a California man who has engaged in pro-life advocacy outside of abortion facilities for the past 15 years. Under San Diego's "bubble zone" ordinance, speech is restricted within 100 feet of the entrance to an abortion facility, and even further restricted within an 8-foot bubble around persons within that zone—turning hundreds of locations across San Diego into no-speech zones. On Roger's behalf, Thomas More Society attorneys filed a federal lawsuit against the city, arguing that the speech-restricting ordinance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of pro-life individuals to offer information on life-affirming alternatives, as well as the rights of the women entering an abortion facility to hear it.
Roger is now appealing in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a district court decision to dismiss his lawsuit. In the opening brief, TMS attorneys describe how the ordinance creates an egregious double standard where abortion facility employees, agents, and volunteers are completely exempt from all speech restrictions, while peaceful pro-life sidewalk counselors like Roger risk six months in jail for merely offering a leaflet or holding a sign that city officials deem harassing.
Thomas More Society attorneys are asking the court to uphold the First Amendment rights of pro-life advocates, as well as the rights of abortion-minded women to hear their message of hope.
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