Hawley’s move to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) cemented her status as one of the religious right’s primary courtroom tacticians. Founded in 1994, ADF has evolved from an alliance-building fund into a powerhouse legal advocacy firm that commands an annual revenue exceeding $100 million. As senior counsel and vice president of the Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, Hawley was tasked with a distinct mission: translating ADF's social objectives into airtight administrative challenges.
The post-Dobbs legal theater required new mechanisms. With federal constitutional abortion rights extinguished by the Supreme Court in 2022, conservative strategists confronted a reality where medication accounted for roughly 63% of all U.S. abortions by 2023. Restricting clinic operations in conservative states failed to prevent pills from crossing state lines via mail networks. Hawley helped direct the offensive directly at the executive branch, targeting the FDA’s authority under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
