Bowman Spent His Time Before Law School as a Professional Anti-Abortion Activist and Protester for Groups Such as Operation Rescue. From 1997 to 2000 Bowman was a “full-time pro-life volunteer” in Madison, Wisconsin and was affiliated with groups such as Operation Rescue National (now Operation Save America) and the Collegians Activated to Liberate Life Education Foundation.²

Madison Police Department, 5/21/98

Matt Bowman Resume, accessed via American Oversight, 9/15/17

Poughkeepsie Journal, 4/16/99

Bowman Led Anti-Abortion Picketers in a Protest Outside the Family Home of an Abortion Providerin. In March 2001, Bowman led a group of five anti-abortion protesters to protest at the home of Dr. Douglas Laube, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin. According to a police report, the protesters carried signs decrying Dr. Laube as well as photos of “aborted fetuses.” The police had been called by neighbors who were expressing their displeasure at the photos displayed.⁵

Madison Police Department, 3/9/01

Bowman has Litigated Dozens of Federal Lawsuits Around Key Abortions Rights Issues. Bowman never distanced himself from his radical past. Instead, he went on to professionalize his views through a legal career. During his decade-long tenure as Senior Council at Alliance Defending Freedom, Bowman represented anti-choice interest groups in lawsuits, defended anti-choice protesters, anti-choice pregnancy centers, and anti-choice healthcare workers, as well as 15 separate lawsuits against the Obamacare contraceptive mandate.⁶ 

Bowman was Arrested Outside of Walt Disney World While Protesting Disney’s “Gay Friendly” Policies. Operation Rescue (now Operation Save America and at the time led by notorious extremist Flip Benham) organized the protest in 1997, calling it “a massive assault on the gates of hell” in response to Disney’s providing health benefits to same-sex partners, allowing “Gay Days” at its theme parks, and permitting Ellen DeGeneres to come out as a homosexual on her show.¹⁰ 

Orlando Sentinel, 12/30/97

Bowman has Compared the Pride Flag to the Confederate Flag. “Many people believe the Confederate flag does not just stand for Southern culture—that it is inextricably intertwined with slavery. If so, what does it mean to fly the rainbow equality flag, when all the leaders who hand it out fervently believe ‘equality’ means they get to define which humans are “equal” and which can be sacrificed and harvested?”¹¹ 

Matt Bowman, Town Hall, 8/1/15

Bowman was a Principal Author of Federal Rules Rolling Back Requirements for Employers to Include Birth Control Coverage in their Health Insurance Plans. “A principal author of the rules, Matthew Bowman, a top lawyer at the Department of Health and Human Services, represented March for Life in 2014 when he was a lawyer at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group.”⁷

Alliance Defending Freedom Facebook page, 9/8/15

Bowman has Claimed that Common and Popular Birth Control Methods like the IUD and Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions. “In the category of ‘FDA approved contraceptives’ included in this mandate are several drugs or devices that cause the demise of an already conceived but not yet implanted human embryo, such as certain intrauterine devices (IUDs). Likewise in that category are many birth control methods that potentially prevent embryos from implantation, such as ‘the Pill’ and ‘emergency contraception.’”⁸

Bowman was Instrumental in the Case that Eventually Became “Hobby Lobby.” At Alliance Defending Freedom, Bowman “spent years attacking the requirement that most health insurance plans cover contraception under the Affordable Care Act.”⁹