Hilary K. Perkins, an evangelical Christian who recently was named the Food and Drug Administration’s top lawyer, already has resigned following a pressure campaign by Sen. Josh Hawley, a fellow believer, and husband to lawyer Erin Hawley, who has battled Perkins in court.
Perkins joined the Department of Justice in 2019 and was glad to see her anti-abortion convictions encouraged during the first Trump administration. What got her in hot water with Sen. Hawley was her faithful service to the DOJ during the pro-abortion Biden administration.
Hilary K. Perkins
Historically, DOJ attorneys defend administration policies, regardless of personal beliefs, and Perkins dutifully did so, defending the Biden administration’s position that the abortion drug mifepristone should remain available as it had been since being approved by the FDA in 2019.
Hawley called Perkins “this Biden lawyer” and said she “has argued for Biden’s outrageous pro-abortion rules in many cases,” reported The New York Times.
“Sen. Hawley’s accusations against me are false,” Perkins told Times. “I am not who he says I am. I am a Christian who is both conservative and pro-life and who simply followed my oath as a Department of Justice career attorney. He should be fighting for me, not against me.”
When Perkins defended mifepristone before the Supreme Court, her opponent was Erin Hawley, senior counsel and vice president with the powerhouse Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which seeks a nationwide ban on the drug.
“Sen. Hawley’s accusations against me are false.”
Josh and Erin Hawley are a D.C. power couple, but some say her legal work with ADF has had a greater impact on the U.S. than anything her husband has done. As one D.C. insider told Politico: “Josh is a show pony. Erin is a workhorse.”
Sen. Hawley threatened that if Perkins remained in Trump’s FDA, he would not support Trump’s nominee to head the agency, potentially derailing the nomination. She resigned following his threat.
“I was honored that President Trump appointed me to be FDA’s chief counsel,” Perkins told the Times, “and I was firmly committed to advancing the administration’s priorities.”
Josh and Erin Hawley (via X)
Perkins was defended by Focus on the Family’s D.C.-based executive, Tim Goeglein, who said, “I have only known Hilary Perkins to be categorically and reliably pro-life.”
Focus also supports Sen. Hawley, a Trump loyalist who was the first senator to publicly support Trump’s effort to block the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. He defended his actions a month later on the Focus on the Family radio show, telling Focus CEO Jim Daly, “It’s an honor to be able to stand for the Lord.”
Focus also has hosted Erin Hawley on programs about marriage and parenting. The couple also works with Focus’ sister organization, the Family Research Council, and spoke at last year’s pre-election Pray Vote Stand Summit 2024. Hawley also has spoken about the “masculinity crisis” for Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
Early last year, Sen. Hawley published an article in First Things titled “Our Christian Nation.” He called for “a revival of Christian influence in America” by “Christian believers who are willing to bring the gospel to bear on every corner of our culture and politics.”
“The Bible has been the main source of our national ideals,” Hawley argued. “Christianity is the electric current of our national life. Turn it off, and the light will fade.”
“We must re-Christianize the great institutions of our society by rearticulating the gospel’s meaning for every aspect of life,” he wrote.
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