Attaining a 4-star rating verifies that Life Legal Defense Foundation exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in your area of work. Only 25% of the charities we evaluate have received at least 3 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that Life Legal Defense Foundation outperforms most other charities in America. This exceptional designation from Charity Navigator sets Life Legal Defense Foundation apart from its peers and demonstrates to the public its trustworthiness.
Michael Thatcher
President and CEO, Charity Navigators
We are pleased to accredit the Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF), whose ministry is to give innocent and helpless human beings of any age, particularly children in the womb, a trained and committed defense against the threat of death, and to support their advocates in the nation’s courtrooms.
Dan Busby
President, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
When Created Equal faces liberal extremists seeking to censor our First Amendment right to speak up for babies, we turn to the Life Legal Defense Foundation. Not only does their team have a mastery of legal knowledge but also, they have proven routinely their ability to win on our behalf. The public square is a safer place to speak truth because Life Legal is on our side.
Mark Harrington
President, Created Equal
Life Legal has provided so much legal help for 40 Days for Life over the years. The confidence that Life Legal gives our local leaders allows 40 Days for Life campaigns to thrive. Thank you for providing your expertise and giving the wonderful heroes of the pro-life movement the legal support that is required in order to use our rights to save lives. It’s great to have Life Legal Defense in your corner!
Shawn Carney, President of 40 Days for Life
Matt Briton, General Counsel and Board Chair of 40 Days for Life
Thank you so much for representing The Justice Foundation and our other clients. We needed your help very much. You are a Godsend and treasure to the pro-life movement.
Allan Parker
President, The Justice Foundation
I want to thank Life Legal Defense Foundation for their representation during this case. This incident has not cost me a penny, and that is because Life Legal defended me completely free of charge. I encourage anyone that feels led to support me in any way to make a donation to Life Legal in my name. They do a wonderful work, not only defending people like me, but also quite literally defending the lives of the unborn, the elderly, the disabled, the ill, those who have been in tragic accidents, and anyone else that our society has decided to marginalize and count their lives worthless.
Father James Linton
Life Legal Client
Life Legal Defense Foundation generously extended crucial help to our pro-life organization, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), as we prepared for a massive educational campaign that brought the horrible truth about abortion to seven college and university campuses in the fall of 2017. Life Legal searched for attorneys licensed in states we were visiting where we did not know local counsel. We needed local counsel in order to communicate with college and university administrations in a way that made it clear that we know and are prepared to defend our rights to freedom of expression. One university initially denied us the right to conduct our project on their campus, but then we appealed that decision – with crucial assistance from a local Life Legal attorney – and the university relented. Life Legal’s assistance therefore helped make possible our outreach to thousands of university students on this campus. Life Legal worked tirelessly in response to our requests for help. We deeply appreciate your efforts, and we are grateful for Life Legal’s generosity in offering this help to us pro bono. It is a privilege for CBR to partner with Life Legal in the defense of preborn children.
Kevin Olivier, Ph.D.
Director of Operations, The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform
We are very happy today that we finally settled this matter. Thank you for all your work defending life and helping to allow pro life messages to be in the public sphere. You guys at Life Legal are true heroes and everyone in our club will be praying for you guys. Hope you have a great summer!
Students for Life Club
Life Legal is an indispensable component to my work to stop abortion.
Jill Stanek
National Campaign Chair, Susan B. Anthony List
I can hardly express to you how badly we need strong and effective champions right now on behalf of the unborn and their champions nationwide. And I can easily express how much admiration and gratitude I feel towards Life Legal Defense Foundation!
I don’t even want to think about where America would be without Life Legal. Even though they’re lean and efficient, Life Legal is a giant in pro-life activism. What they do, and how they do it, is literally indispensable to the cause. I’ve seen them give hero after pro-life hero an expert, pro-bono legal defense. So many pro-life stalwarts literally owe his or her freedom, in many cases—to Life Legal’s passionate and powerful representation.
If you care about our country’s mounting guilt in the abortion genocide, please support Life Legal as generously as you can today. You couldn’t dream of your money having a more potent impact for the unborn and their champions.
Father Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
My family and I will always be grateful for Life Legal’s heroic efforts on behalf of my sister, Terri Schiavo. As I travel around the country advocating for the disabled and listening to people’s stories, I become more aware every day of the need for Life Legal Defense Foundation to stand against the forces reshaping our legal system to suit the needs of the culture of death.
Bobby Schindler
Founder, Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network
The legal service provided by Life Legal Defense Foundation is without parallel. At a time when my civil liberties were being threatened and I could not afford legal assistance, Life Legal graciously, expertly and successfully defended my constitutional right to freedom of religious expression. I thank God for Life Legal Defense Foundation!
Walter B. Hoye II
Founder, Issues4Life Foundation
When the battle is at its greatest, there are few who are willing to stay in the fight. Life Legal has been in my corner and I couldn’t survive the fight without them.
Phill Kline
Former Kansas Attorney General
As president of the Center for Bioethics and Culture, it has been my privilege to partner with Life Legal over the years on numerous projects, in our shared efforts to protect and defend those who have no voice. In particular, we have collaborated on projects surrounding stem cell research, human cloning and exploitation of egg donors, with our greatest accomplishment being the production of ‘Lines That Divide: The Great Stem Cell Debate,’ a documentary film which was an official selection in the 2010 California Independent Film Festival.
Jennifer Lahl
President Center for Bioethics and Culture
I have been very privileged to know and work with many pro-life legal groups all over the U.S., but I have to say that the staff at Life Legal Defense Foundation stands out. When they offered their help to the Birmingham pro-life community, they literally became a part of us. Their passionate work on behalf of pre-born children and those people who were being denied First Amendment rights never wavered and was always a labor of love. The pro-life movement is blessed to have this great organization on our side.
Fr. Terry Gensemer
Director, Alabama CEC For Life
I’m very grateful to God for Life Legal Defense Foundation, their founders, attorneys, staff, volunteers and donors. Without their help, and the help of God through His Church, I would not have been able to fight this injustice by myself. God was with us the whole way, and will continue to be with us as we seek to help all of our brothers and sisters realize that killing children will never solve our problems; indeed, it only makes our problems much, much worse. For every dear child that has been lost to abortion, please forgive us. For every mother and father, sister and brother, grandparent, aunt and uncle – for all of us – that have been wounded by abortion – may God heal all of us and may His gentle yet fierce love guide us all to real life giving solutions to the difficulties we face. Life Legal definitely was there for me when I needed them—can’t say enough good about them.
Jan England
Life Legal Client
Along with many other Catholic and Christian organizations, Legatus and its members are fighting to preserve their freedom to exercise their Catholic faith in everyday life, a freedom that is being threatened by the contraceptive/abortifacient mandate imposed by the Obama administration. Life Legal Defense Foundation has brought to this fight a groundbreaking brief that exposes the shoddy, agenda-driven pseudoscience that underlies the mandate, while also confirming the scientific basis for our belief that life begins at conception. We are very grateful for LLDF’s assistance as we stand together for religious freedom and the right to life of the unborn.
John Hunt
Ambassador at Large, Legatus
I respectfully urge all Christians to financially support Life Legal Defense Foundation(LLDF) on a regular basis….LLDF was a powerful force in helping close the Birmingham abortion clinics and are currently involved in the legal fight to keep Huntsville free of abortion clinics, opposing the City of Huntsville who is actually spending taxpayer money to defend the abortion industry. LLDF is an efficient low overhead non-profit legal defense organization that provides free legal counsel to pro-life organizations across the country.
Fr. James Henderson
Vicar, Holy Trinity Charismatic Episcopal Church
I had killers threatening me for violation of jail house rules, a judge upset with me because I would not go along with her positions, and constant riots in the jail. I really felt like I had crossed over into the twilight zone by mistake. The first big break came when someone gave me the number of Allison [Life Legal Senior Staff Counsel]. I gave her a call and everything changed. I don’t know what she said or did, but the courts started to swing in my favor.
Pro-life Activist
My lawsuit against Planned Parenthood has been resolved. It was a long and difficult battle, and I am so grateful to Life Legal for sticking by me throughout this ordeal. Without Life Legal, I would never have been able to fight that battle for almost seven years. Thank you Life Legal!
Life Legal Client, a minor threatened with forced abortion
Life Legal Defense Foundation is a fearless defender of the sanctity of human life and the right of pro lifers to participate fully in the public square. It defends freedom of speech of abortion opponents against infringement by government. It funds lawyers to defend the weak and vulnerable threatened with death by dehydration, as in the Terri Schiavo case. It provides continuing legal education for those who wish to advocate in court on behalf of the cause of human equality. In an era when many fear being unpopular and heterodox thinking is often marginalized, Life Legal courageously stands for enduring American principles of freedom of expression and the importance of human exceptionalism.
Wesley J. Smith, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute
Author of Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America
Life Legal Defense Foundation has excelled at empowering those who speak for our society’s most vulnerable: unborn human life. Their extensive expertise and impressive history of success have increased legal protection for the unborn and kept the public square open to the pro-life message. We are proud to partner with such a tremendous group of committed professionals.
Denise M. Burke, Esq.
Vice President of Legal Affairs, Americans United for Life
I am an attorney in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and have had numerous contacts with Katie Short, a member of Life Legal, over the past year. Ms. Short has been an invaluable help in not only responding promptly to my questions and concerns but has given me accurate and well supported information to use with my clients.
Most of my legal issues centered around First Amendment Free Speech rights for Anti-abortion demonstrators. Thanks to Ms. Short, I have been able to effectively assist my clients and I have been able to amicably correspond with the opposing sides (many times City Attorney offices) regarding the issues in question.
Life Legal attorneys are well prepared, well read, and well versed in the latest cases and holdings and statutes. Ms. Short’s insights and perspective, and her legal arguments are superb and I would recommend Life Legal to any newer attorney who needs some guidance from experienced and well-trained attorneys.
Suzanne Housey, Esq.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Life Legal Defense Foundation relentlessly defends the sanctity of human life. Whether funding precedent-setting cases, like that of Terri Schiavo, or providing everyday legal services using LLDF attorneys and attorney affiliates. LLDF ensures effective representation for advocates of the unborn and those facing forced death from euthanasia. The services provided by LLDF literally save lives.
Justice William P. Clark, Retired California Supreme Court
National Security Advisor for Ronald Reagan
LLDF’s lawyers have proved eloquent advocates and acutely perceptive helpers in our marathon battles against the nation’s abortion industry and the National Organization for Women in defense of NOW v. Scheidler. Thanks to LLDF counsel, Katie Short, the abortionists’ strongest witness was found to be an outright fraud and our clients’ hopes for ultimate justice were renewed.
Tom Brejcha
Thomas More Society
Life Legal Defense Foundation really is in existence to help the activist — and thus the unborn baby. I received personal attention from a top flight attorney, secured the protection of my free speech rights, and didn’t have to pay a cent. God bless these dedicated pro-life people.
Judy Teyler
Founder, Community Life Coalition Castro Valley, CA
Picketing, praying, and counseling outside abortion clinics have increased dramatically over the last few years. The abortion industry, often abetted by the criminal justice system, has launched a full-scale attack on the fundamental rights on these pro-life activists. Without organizations like Life Legal Defense Foundation, these dedicated activists wouldn’t stand a chance.
Charles E. Rice, Esq.
Professor of Constitutional Law, Notre Dame Law School
For far too long, organizations like NOW, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU have been treated to a free ride in the American legal system. The result has been the delusion of the masses, the repression of the weak, the destruction of the unwanted, and the suppression of justice. Thankfully, the Life Legal Defense Foundation has given us a practical means to put on the brakes and halt the bus. I encourage all pro-lifers to join me in supporting Life Legal Defense Foundation. Together we can end the long ride of perversity in our land — but only if we stand together.
George Grant, Coral Ridge Ministries
Author, Grand Illusions, Third Time Around, and Trial and Error
Dear Katie and Life Legal Defense Foundation,
I wanted to take a moment or two to express my deepest thanks for the assistance and aid you gave the embattled pro-life remnant of NEA Delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly, the highest authority in the NEA. We meet annually during the first week of July, and this year we had a surprise for the NEA leadership: we had gathered enough signatures to force a secret ballot election that would amend the NEA Bylaws so that the NEA would have a position of ‘No Position’ on the matters of abortion and family planning. This concerned the NEA, and they promptly informed us that they would, in violation of the NEA Constitution, permit delegates to adjust the language we had submitted so that it would be watered down, and the impact that we were seeking negated. We contacted the ACLJ, the ADF, and the Pacific Justice Institute for legal assistance, and they all turned us down, claiming that it was out of their areas of expertise, and that, frankly, we did not have a case even if it were their area of interest. We had almost entirely given up hope when a good friend of mine, Reverend Chet Gallagher of Operation Save America, suggested I call Life Legal, and speak with Ms. Short. I agreed to do so, and Ms. Short agreed to draft a letter informing the NEA, its Board of Directors, attorney and officers that if they insisted on violating the internal governing documents of the NEA, legal remedy would be sought in federal court under the statutes that establish and guarantee tax-exempt status to the NEA. And do you know what happened? The NEA leadership backed down immediately and agreed to protect us on the floor of the RA! We lost the vote, but it was far closer than anyone expected (3,180 yes, 4,902 no), prompting the Resolutions Committee to meet to consider evaluating whether or not the positions of the NEA on abortion and family planning need to be looked at again. Now, we don’t know if that will happen, but we do know this: we will be back again next year, and this time we will campaign more diligently toward victory. We know this: without the vigilant and selfless work of the Life Legal Defense Foundation generally and Catherine Short specifically, we would have faced an even more arduous fight than we did. Where other Christian legal groups seemed uninterested in the battle that we are waging to pull national organizations like the NEA out of the abortion industry, Life Legal was there despite the uphill nature of that battle. We proudly stand with Life Legal, and we encourage you to as well.
Scott D. Austin
Delegate, NEA Representative Assembly Member
Nevada State Education Association Board of Directors Member
Clark County Education Association Executive Board