AUL Is Unique in America
The first national pro-life organization in our country, Americans United for Life continues as the only non-profit law firm dedicated exclusively to nationwide efforts to reinstate respect for human life in American law and culture.
Timeline
1971: AUL incorporated as first national pro-life organization to counter, through national education, the growing threat of disrespect for human life.
1972: AUL sponsors research and publication of the landmark Abortion and Social Justice.
1973: Roe v. Wade decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1975: Public-interest law established as part of AUL's work.
1975: AUL files briefs in landmark Supreme Court case Poelker v. Doe, which establishes that public hospitals need not perform abortions.
1975: AUL Publishes landmark article in Baylor Law Review on "Euthanasia, Medical Treatment and the Mongoloid Child."
1975: AUL director David Louisell serves on National Commission on the Protection of Human Subjects.
1978: AUL cosponsors conference, "The Psychological Aspects of Abortion," later published in 1979 by University Publications of America and edited by former AUL executive director, David Mall.
1978: AUL begins David Louisell Intern summer program for law students.
1979: AUL represents U.S. Senators Buckley and Helms as intervening defendants in their landmark Hyde Amendment litigation in federal court in New York and Chicago to establish that states do not have to fund abortion.
1980: AUL successfully defends Hyde Amendment at U.S. Supreme Court in Harris v. McRae after a four-year court fight; AUL vice chairman, Victor Rosenblum, argues case before the Court.
1980: AUL files brief in Supreme Court case H.L. v. Matheson, upholding parental notice of abortion.
1980: AUL coordinates publication of Death, Dying and Euthanasia.
1981: AUL sponsors publication of New Perspectives on Human Abortion.
1981-1985: AUL involved in series of landmark medical treatment cases in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey involving withdrawal of food and fluids.
1982: AUL publishes Infanticide and the Handicapped Newborn (based on AUL 1980 international infanticide conference) through Brigham Young University Press.
1982: AUL files briefs in three landmark Supreme Court cases, Ashcroft, Akron and Simopoulos (decided in 1983, approving significant state regulations on abortion).
1984: AUL sponsors national conference on reversing Roe.
1986-1987: The Supreme Court and Abortion: Reversing Roe v. Wade Through the Courts edited by AUL and published by Georgetown University Press.
1988-1989: AUL organizes briefing program in landmark Supreme Court Webster decision, which cuts back on Roe v. Wade.
1989: AUL sponsors first Legislators Educational Conference (LEC) to educate state legislators nationwide on pro-life public policy.
1990: AUL sponsors Gallup Poll on abortion, the most comprehensive survey ever of American attitudes toward abortion.
1991: AUL quantitative research analyst, James Rogers, Ph.D., publishes landmark article in prestigious American Journal of Public Health, revealing positive impact of Minnesota's parental notice law on teenage pregnancy and abortion rates.
1992: AUL resident scholar, Marvin Olasky, Ph.D., publishes Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America.
1992: AUL's work in Planned Parenthood v. Casey instrumental in U.S. Supreme Court cutting back on Roe and approving state informed consent laws for first time.
1993: AUL publishes first comprehensive legal critique of Casey decision.
1993-1995: AUL works with more than one-third of state attorneys general nationwide on pro-life litigation.
1994: AUL launches 15-year, post-Casey plan to alter public policy landscape of life issues in America, culminating with human life amendment to U.S. Constitution.
1994: AUL leads briefing strategy in three state and federal cases to defeat constitutional "right" to assisted suicide.
1995: In wake of pro-life victories from November 1994 elections, AUL provides legislative counsel and support to 43 states and Puerto Rico.
1995: AUL works to prevent FDA rubber stamp of abortion pill RU-486 by filing Citizen Petition on behalf of Members of Congress. Petition details likely dangers of RU-486 to women and their subsequent live children.
1995-1996: AUL works to include information on abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link in state laws covering informed consent for abortion, and publishes several editorials on ABC connection in national magazines and newspapers.
1997-2000: AUL works with more than two-thirds of state attorneys general nationwide on state partial-birth abortion litigation.
2000: AUL organizes briefing strategy and files brief in U.S. Supreme Court case Carhart v. Stenberg, in which Court narrowly strikes down ban on partial-birth abortion.
2000-2001: AUL represents state defendant in constitutional challenge to Arizona abortion clinic regulations, enacted in 1999 following a highly publicized abortion-related death of a 32-year-old mother at the hands of an abortionist who was later criminally convicted; works with several legislatures and attorneys general in this developing area of law.
2001: AUL leads nationwide effort in state legislation on health care rights of conscience to protect pro-life doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical students from employment discrimination.
2001: AUL develops model legislation for states to ban human cloning and destructive human embryo research.
2002: AUL continues to spearhead international efforts to protect the rights of conscience of pro-life medical professionals against the encroachments of abortion advocates. AUL leads the legal defense of abortion clinic regulations in Arizona, and helps develop a legal strategy for giving states the option of using federal money to fund abortion alternatives.
2003: AUL develops the first-ever "AUL State Report Cards," released early in 2004, which rate each state in terms of safety--or danger--for pregnant mothers and their unborn children.
2006: First edition published of Defending Life: Proven Strategies for a Pro-Life America, which is a state-by-state legal guide to abortion, bioethics, and end of life issues.
2007: AUL State Supreme Court Project whitepapers published at AULStateSupremeCourtProject.org
2008: Dr. Charmaine Yoest appointed President & CEO
