FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
08.14.19
Contact: Alexa Barrett, Communications Assistant
Email: alexa@equityfwd.org
Phone: (914) 602 - 3147
Anti-Abortion Ideologue Nominated to Federal Judgeship in St. Louis
Trump continues efforts to pad court system with extremists to protect harmful policies
New York, NY – Just now, Trump nominated anti-abortion attorney Sarah Pitlyk to an open federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Missouri. Pitlyk is a dangerous ideologue who has built a career on infringing upon women’s rights and threatening the health and well-being of all Americans.
“The Trump administration is hell-bent on weakening the rights and freedoms of millions of women and families by padding the court system with politically-motivated ideologues such as Sarah Pitlyk who use their positions of power to protect harmful policies,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, director of Equity Forward.
Pitlyk is special counsel to the Thomas More Society, where she has worked on many anti-abortion and religious refusal cases — including thwarting a St. Louis ordinance that would prohibit discrimination based on reproductive health decisions or pregnancy. Just last year, Pitlyk represented David Daleiden, a disgraced anti-abortion extremist who illegally posed as a fake biomedical company employee to secretly record conferences of abortion providers, and then released videos that a federal judge called “deceptively edited.”
Pitlyk has also chided surrogacy as “harmful to children,” claiming it “diminishes respect for motherhood and the unique mother-child bond.” She even went as far to say that surrogacy is “a practice society should not be enforcing.” If Pitlyk is able to act on these beliefs in her new role as a federal judge, she could endanger the well-being of women and families across the country.
Pitlyk also spoke alongside dangerous ideologues, including right-wing conspiracy theorists, anti-Muslim activists and disgraced former NSA Director Michael Flynn.
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Equity Forward is a watchdog organization that works to ensure transparency and accountability among anti-reproductive health groups and individuals.