Johnson v. State of Wyoming II
Description: Abortion activists are challenging Wyoming’s pro-life law, Life is a Human Right Act, which seeks to protect unborn life and ensure maternal health and safety.
Unborn lives defended in Wyoming court
WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and Wyoming Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams
WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in Johnson v. State of Wyoming
WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. MDT, Friday, June 2
WHERE: Teton County Courthouse, 180 S. King St., District Courtroom, Jackson. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations.
JACKSON, Wyo. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Right to Life of Wyoming, two state legislators, and the Wyoming secretary of state will be available for media interviews Friday following a hearing at the Teton County Courthouse in a lawsuit that pro-abortion activists filed to challenge the state’s pro-life law.
ADF attorneys filed a motion in April that asks a state court to allow Right to Life of Wyoming, Wyoming Representatives Rachel Rodriguez-Williams and Chip Neiman, and Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray to intervene in defense of the Life is a Human Right Act. Shortly after the Wyoming Legislature enacted the law—which seeks to protect unborn life and ensure maternal health and safety—a group of abortionists and pro-abortion activists sought to halt its enforcement.
“The state of Wyoming is eager to uphold its law affirming that life is a human right and ensure women are given the real health care and support they deserve,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tim Garrison, who will be arguing before the court. “Right to Life of Wyoming, Reps. Rodriguez-Williams and Neiman, and Secretary Gray are seeking to preserve the lives of unborn children and the well-being of their mothers. We urge the court to allow them to help defend Wyoming’s duly enacted law.”
ADF attorneys filed the motion to intervene in Johnson v. State of Wyoming in the District Court of the 9th Judicial District of Teton County. In it, they explain that Right to Life of Wyoming, the legislators, and the secretary of state “have abiding interests in protecting women and unborn children. The Legislators have an ongoing interest in protecting their authority to regulate on abortion and related issues. [Right to Life of Wyoming] has an interest in ensuring that its advocacy efforts on behalf of [the Life is a Human Right Act] are fully defended and vindicated.”
Fred Harrison is serving as local counsel on behalf of Right to Life of Wyoming, Rodriguez-Williams, Neiman, and Gray.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Tim Garrison
Tim Garrison serves as senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Life. Previously, Garrison was a partner at Husch Blackwell LLP, representing clients ranging from individuals to Fortune 500 companies. Garrison was a federal prosecutor for 14 years and was U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri from 2018-2021. Garrison successfully litigated numerous federal jury trials to verdict and received the Missouri Bar Foundation’s Appellate Advocacy award for his effectiveness at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Garrison is also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he has served on active duty or in the reserves since 2003. He deployed to Iraq as a war crimes prosecutor in 2007 and saw combat in Afghanistan as Chief of Operational Law for the I Marine Expeditionary Force in 2014. Garrison later served as Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is currently a reserve judge on the Navy and Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals. He is a distinguished graduate of both the Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School and Command and Staff College. Garrison graduated from Drury University with a bachelor of arts, magna cum laude, in political science, and holds the master of public administration and juris doctor degrees from the University of Missouri. He is admitted to practice law in Missouri and in multiple federal courts.
ABOUT Denise Harle
Denise Harle serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where she is the director of the Center for Life. Prior to joining ADF, Harle served as deputy solicitor general in the Office of the Florida Attorney General, where she drafted appellate briefs and presented oral arguments on behalf of the state in a wide variety of constitutional cases, including defending the constitutionality of pro-life laws. In 2017, she participated in the prestigious Supreme Court Fellow program, sponsored by the National Association of Attorneys General. She clerked for Justice Ricky L. Polston on the Florida Supreme Court and worked for several years as an appellate litigator at a large firm in California. Harle earned bachelor’s degrees, summa cum laude, in psychology and interdisciplinary social science from Florida State University, a master’s degree in political science from Stanford University, and a Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law. At Duke, she served as the executive editor of Law & Contemporary Problems. A member of the state bars of California, Florida, and Georgia, she is admitted to multiple federal district and appellate courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.