Texas judge overseeing abortion pill case filed by Josh Hawley's wife donated to his Senate campaign: report

United States Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) has a powerful "partner" in his political "crusade" against reproductive autonomy. Erin Morrow Hawley, the lawmaker's wife since 2010, is an attorney representing right-wing groups suing to have the abortion medication mifepristone banned nationwide.

Morrow Hawley serves as senior counselor for the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-equality non-profit that played an instrumental role in the campaign to have the Supreme Court reverse Roe versus Wade.

This lawsuit, however, is a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration's two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, which the ADF filed "on behalf of four doctors who have said they’ve prescribed mifepristone, as well as four anti-abortion medical organizations," Vanity Fair's Abigail Tracy reported on Thursday.

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"The case, which is playing out in a courtroom in rural Texas, could have the most far-reaching ramifications on abortion access in the United States since the fall of Roe v. Wade. Should the judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, rule in favor of the plaintiffs in the case and issue a preliminary injunction, it could effectively block the use of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions, which account for more than half of all abortions in the US," wrote Gail. "Hawley is one of the main lawyers arguing on behalf of conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which sued the Food and Drug Administration last November for its approval of the abortion medication."

One person who spoke to Vanity Fair observed that the Hawleys' "political partnership shows how coordinated the antiabortion movement is—working at all levels of government to take away access—even after we lost the fundamental right to abortion."

And while Vanity Fair pointed out that "the fact that the wife of a senator is involved in a high-profile lawsuit is not necessarily noteworthy on its face," what does raise red flags is the connections that Kacsmaryk – who was appointed to the bench in the District Court for the Northern District of Texas in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump – has with the Hawley family and other prominent Republican lawmakers.

Kacsmaryk, Vanity Fair revealed, "donated $500 to Josh Hawley in 2018, according to data from OpenSecrets. Taken in whole, Kacsmaryk's donor history paints a picture of an individual active in supporting conservative politicians and causes, with political donations also made to Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as Republican Governor Greg Abbott."

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Vanity Fair's full report is available here (subscription required).