Thomas More Society staff and supporters gathered at Chicago’s Union League Club with the Pro-Life Action League on Nov. 10, to celebrate mutual accomplishments and a shared 20-year history.

Thomas More Society Founder, President and Chief Counsel Tom Brejcha spoke to the gathering. He lauded the great work the non-profit public interest law firm’s attorneys do across the country.

Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League, interviewed Brejcha and his own father, Joe Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League.

The stories the men related were of a relationship forged in the fires of the landmark case, NOW v. Scheidler. This three-decade legal battle is the one that started it all. The abortion industry prosecuted a lawsuit against peaceful pro-life advocates using a law designed to combat organized crime. By achieving victory after three trips to the Supreme Court, the Thomas More Society dealt a decisive blow to the abortion industry.

Joe Scheidler spoke of the “early days” of witnessing for life, “It was clear to me that abortion is murder had to get the word out. We could not afford advertising, so we had to make news and get the media to cover our activism to keep the abortion topic at the forefront after Roe v. Wade.”

Likewise, Brejcha never doubted that deliberately taking the life of preborn babies was a terrible wrong. He explained, “As a cradle Catholic I thought about the prayer that includes ‘blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus’ and that it applied to all of the unborn.”