The following comes from a Sept. 22 release from Life Legal Defense Foundation.

Life Legal Defense Foundation may be a small nonprofit law firm headquartered in the Napa Valley, but its attorneys are making a huge impact across the country. Having adopted a David vs. Goliath approach, this spunky legal group is taking the part of the “little guy” against the giants that establish policies endangering life, liberty, and due process. This month, the organization marks 25 years of providing a trained and committed defense of pro-life advocates, sending attorneys into courtrooms from Florida to California. Details on the Life Legal Defense Foundation 25th anniversary celebration September 27 in San Francisco are available here [https://lldf.org/making-most-of-life/].

Dana Cody, president and executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation, notes that the group has been involved in highly publicized cases, including Terri Schiavo and Jahi McMath end-of-life decisions and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent abortion-related rulings in favor of Hobby Lobby and pro-life sidewalk counselor Eleanor McCullen.

Most recently, the group is taking on the state of California over its first-in-the-nation abortion coverage mandate, a ruling by a California state agency requiring all health insurance polices to cover all abortions. LLDF has filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the federal Department of Health and Human Services, demanding enforcement of the Weldon Amendment, which specifically forbids states receiving certain federal funds from disallowing plans that don’t cover abortion.

“We don’t shy away from the headlines,” explained Cody, “but Life Legal Defense Foundation is about defending the ‘little guys.’”  The everyday activity of Cody’s team involves hundreds of cases which may not be reported in the media, but which raise vital issues of freedom and liberty, including:

  • State Board of Health v. All Women’s, Inc.
    Helped Alabama activists work with state officials to shut down an illegal abortion clinic in Birmingham
  • Cherf v. Allison, et al.
    Obtained ruling throwing out public assembly law that was hindering pro-life activism
  • Pro-Life Mississippi et al v. Horton et al
    Held Jackson, Mississippi, police accountable for routine harassment of pro-life citizens
  • Diss v. Portland Public Schools
    Stood up for high school teacher fired for opposing Planned Parenthood

Another one of the “little guys,” Rev. Walter B. Hoye II, was arrested for standing on the sidewalk outside of an abortion clinic, with a sign offering help to women entering the clinic. “At a time when my civil liberties were being threatened and I could not afford legal assistance, the Life Legal Defense Foundation graciously, expertly and successfully defended my constitutional right to the freedom of religious expression,” he explained.

A trio of in-house attorneys, legal director Catherine Short, senior staff counsel Allison Aranda, and staff counsel Rebekah Millard, hold down the West Coast operations, while Cody works with those on eastern seaboard. Lawyers in California, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, and Oregon serve on the firm’s board of directors and the advisory board incorporates barristers and scholars from Indiana, New Jersey, Washington, DC, and eight major west coast metropolises.

Life Legal Defense Foundation does not charge its clients for legal services.  It is a donor supported organization that relies on a network of volunteer attorneys and the financial gifts of like-minded benefactors.

Learn more about the court cases Life Legal Defense Foundation has been involved in here.

Details on the Life Legal Defense Foundation 25th anniversary celebration September 27 in San Francisco are available here.

Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org.