Sen. Josh Hawley’s successful re-election bid in Missouri last year for a second term in the United States Senate was a huge win for pro-life advocates. No one on Capitol Hill may be more outspoken for the sanctity of human life than the former state attorney general, law school professor and religious liberty lawyer.
But Hawley, 45, is not even Missouri’s most accomplished defender of the unborn. That accolade belongs to another Hawley—his wife of nearly 15 years, Erin.
As senior counsel and vice president of Alliance Defending Freedom’s (ADF) Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, Erin has helped litigate some of the most consequential legal cases in recent memory, including the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which reversed a nearly 50-year ruling that abortion rights were protected by the Constitution.
Erin served as co-counsel for the state of Mississippi’s successful legal defense of its 15-week abortion ban before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Clinic, effectively ending federally protected abortion-on-demand and relegating it to the states. “It returned to the people the power to protect life,” Erin says.
And she did it with her 6-month-old daughter and third child, Abigail, literally by her side.
“In the midst of the legal strategy discussion, Abigail wakes up screaming bloody murder,” Erin recalls. “So, it was a little embarrassing. I was supposed to be the legal expert talking about this case, and here I’ve got a crying baby. But on the other hand, it was just really wonderful, in sort of illustrating why the case was so important and what it was we were fighting for.”
Before joining ADF, Erin practiced appellate law with some notable law firms in Washington, D.C. She also worked for the Department of Justice as counsel to Attorney General Michael Mukasey. And her giftedness in academia has led her to serve as associate professor of law at the University of Missouri, where Josh has also taught.
Describing his wife as a “champion for life,” Josh says that his proudest moment of 2024 wasn’t being re-elected to Congress, but instead witnessing Erin argue before the Supreme Court for stricter regulations on abortion-inducing drugs and conscience protections for pro-life medical professionals who refuse to prescribe the deadly medications. The high court did not restrict access to the abortifacients, but it did uphold health care workers’ conscience rights.
On that day in March, Josh had his two elementary school-aged sons—dressed in suits and ties—alongside him for the occasion. “That is not only a highlight of my year, that’s going to be a highlight of my life, and I think it will be for my boys as well,” he says.
Josh’s sentiment for this historic event also marked a full-circle moment for him and Erin. The Supreme Court is where they fell in love while clerking for Chief Justice John Roberts in 2007. The couple married about three years later.
The two had crossed paths at Yale Law School, where Erin was a year ahead of Josh and led the Yale Christian Law Fellowship. But it wasn’t until they sat across from each other at their desks and worked together for the chief justice that they realized that God wanted them to be more than colleagues.
“Most importantly for me is she was somebody who loved Jesus,” Josh says of his initial attraction to Erin beyond her beauty and intelligence. “Jesus was No. 1 in her life. She wanted Jesus to be No. 1 in her family. She was putting those things at the center of her life.”
Josh and Erin both professed faith in Christ as children and ultimately shared strong Biblical convictions about God’s design for the family, although their upbringings were quite different. Josh’s dad was a banker and his mom a teacher, while Erin’s parents were fifth-generation cattle ranchers.
“When I was 5, I can remember sitting on my dad’s lap and praying to accept Jesus into my heart,” Josh says. He describes his faith journey since as “deepening in my walk with the Lord.” The Kansas City, Missouri, prep school valedictorian majored in history at Stanford University before studying constitutional law at Yale.
“I wanted to be able to defend our right to worship, our right of conscience, our right to speak and assemble,” he says.
Growing up on a remote commercial cattle ranch in northeast New Mexico—alongside her two younger sisters and an assortment of ducks, chickens, goats and rabbits—Erin’s childhood was less idyllic despite her cherished memories of helping raise horses and cattle. Her father suffered with mental health issues and alcoholism before taking his life when Erin was 16.
“Childhood was a little chaotic, and my mom was really faithful and always taking us to church and demonstrating her faith in the way she lived and what she taught us,” says Erin, who was baptized as a public profession of her faith in Christ at age 12.
Erin’s pursuit of excellence in everything she did seemed to give her a sense of control in a world that was often unpredictable. She too graduated at the top of her high school class before earning her bachelor’s degree in animal science from Texas A&M University.
Aspirations to become a veterinarian, however, were mitigated by Erin’s squeamishness around blood. So, when her favorite genetics professor recommended that she consider law school, Erin obliged after her scores on her entrance exams garnered a sizeable scholarship.
“I loved the challenge,” she says. “I loved working with the legal arguments. I loved writing.”
Following her time at Yale Law School, Erin says that her participation in a healing prayer ministry helped her realize how Jesus had been with her throughout lonely seasons of confusion and disillusionment about her dad’s struggles.
In her book Living Beloved: Lessons From My Little Ones About the Heart of God, published by Focus on the Family, Erin writes about how motherhood has blessed her with a greater appreciation for the love and faithfulness of her Heavenly Father.
“I may not understand why God permitted certain things in my life, but I am comforted by the certainty that He was there,” she writes. “He is the God who was with me, who saw me and had compassion on me, whose heart broke with every tear. He is the Lord who enters into our suffering. That fateful day when Jesus willingly endured the shame of the cross, He set in motion the day when all will be made right. And He is present with us now, always working on our behalf. He is the King of kings, who has time to wash dishes with a small brokenhearted girl.”
Josh is also an author, having written the New York Times bestseller The Tyranny of Big Tech. More recently, in his 2023 release, Manhood—The Masculine Virtues America Needs, Josh calls for a return to a Biblical model for masculinity rooted in men being responsible providers, protectors and servant leaders as godly husbands and fathers.
“The Bible’s mission for men is an invitation to matter,” Josh writes. “And it is, at its core, an invitation to character. For to become the servant of God the Bible says man is meant to be, each man must become what God’s call will demand of him. He must shape his soul. He must acquire the character of a husband and father, a warrior and builder, a priest and king. The man who has character like that is a man indeed. America needs more men like that.”
Josh contends further in his book that the left’s atheistic leanings, amplified by the media and academia, undermine God’s design for the family. “The members of today’s left have pushed liberty into nihilism, defining it as the right to live free from biological sex, family, tradition and God—free from reality,” he writes.
One of the ways Josh pushes back against the culture’s assault on the family is by prioritizing having dinner with his family as often as possible and having them travel with him for some extended work assignments.
“I use family dinner to organize my whole schedule,” he says. “And it’s a great way for me to discipline myself to always put those family responsibilities first, which are my primary ministry if you think about the responsibilities the Lord’s given me. And I have a deep obligation to my wife and to my children, to minister to them, to see to their good, their growth, their spiritual health.”
Josh says that he’s thankful to live in the time God has placed him, and to serve in the roles he’s been given. Those assignments include a seat on numerous committees, including the influential Senate Judiciary Committee; Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
“At the end of the day, I’m accountable to the Lord, and I also entrust my future to the Lord,” he says. “It’s His prerogative to do what He wants with my life. My obligation is to be faithful to Him.” ©2025 BGEA
Photo: Meshali Mitchell / ©2024