Dear Friend, I'm writing to encourage you today with news of two important court victories. The U.S. Court of Appeals just delivered a victory for a public university professor disciplined over pronouns, and a Pennsylvania appellate court delivered an important victory upholding our state pro-life laws. Victory #1: Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Professor's Free Speech Rights Involving Pronouns, Quoting Independence Law Center Brief in Opinion Dr. Nicolas Meriwether, a philosophy professor at Shawnee State University, was punished by the university because he declined a male student's demand to be referred to as a woman, with feminine titles and feminine pronouns. Dr. Meriwether offered to use the student's first or last name, but the public university in Ohio and the student demanded the professor speak and act contrary to his philosophical and religious convictions about the nature of sex. The university formally charged him with creating a hostile work environment, placed a written warning in his personnel file and threatened "further corrective actions" unless he articulated the university's ideological message. Dr. Meriwether, represented by our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom, initially lost in court, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vindicated his rights in Meriwether v. Hartop. This ruling correctly identifies the constitutionally protected right to freely express your beliefs — and the freedom not to say something you disagree with — without fear of losing your job. As the court said, "Our universities traditionally have been beacons of intellectual diversity and academic freedom," and rightly so. This ruling simply affirms that tradition. Because of your support, the Independence Law Center represented amici curiae (friend of the court) parties — numerous academics specializing in philosophy, theology, law, political science, and medicine — through filing an amicus brief on their behalf supporting Dr. Meriwether. The brief highlights the problems with applying gender identity ideology. The court recognized (quoting the brief — your brief) that his speech "concerns a struggle over the social control of language in a crucial debate about the nature and foundation, or indeed real existence, of the sexes." Thank you for your support that made this brief possible, a brief that helped to frame the issues for the court. Victory #2: PA Appeals Court Delivers Setback to Abortion Industry's Demand for Public Funding The abortion industry in Pennsylvania (abortion clinics and regional Planned Parenthoods) sued the Commonwealth demanding that our prohibition of taxpayer-funded abortion through Medicaid be struck down as violating the Pennsylvania constitution. The abortion industry is arguing that the abortion funding prohibition violates the Pennsylvania constitution's Equal Rights Amendment and Pennsylvania's Equal Protection provision because, according to the industry, abortion itself is a right protected by the Pennsylvania constitution. Consider what they are asking for: a right to taxpayer funding of elective abortion and a ruling that the Pennsylvania constitution requires abortion-on-demand! Roe v. Wade at the federal level is bad enough, but a state court ruling could go much further than Roe. The good news is that the Commonwealth Court (one of Pennsylvania's appellate courts) just announced in Allegheny Reprod. Health Ctr. v. Pa. Dep't of Human Servs., that the abortion industry lacked standing to bring the constitutional challenge. In other words, the court said that a lawsuit could only be brought by a Medicaid recipient, not by the abortion industry. We expect the abortion industry to seek review before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. And our legal team is already preparing an amicus brief in support of Pennsylvania's abortion law. If the state Supreme Court rules in favor of the abortion industry, our existing pro-life laws could be reversed! Stay tuned, and we'll keep you updated on the latest. We're grateful for you and your support for our work, which allows us together to stand for important issues like the right to life and our freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. Sincerely,  Randall Wenger
Chief Counsel
Independence Law Center | 
