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Louis A. Brown, Jr.

Former Senior Advisor for Operations, Office for Civil Rights

Louis Adolph Brown, Jr. is an attorney who has spent much of his career in the public sector. Since becoming a Republican due to his abortion beliefs, Brown has been outspoken about those views. He has also joined the boards of and lobbied on behalf of multiple anti-abortion groups. In March 2019, he left HHS to return to the non-profit sector. 

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HOW THEIR ROLE AFFECTS ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is charged with enforcing anti-discrimination laws, health privacy laws and conscience laws. The Washington Post reported that the Office for Civil Rights under Trump “has been greatly strengthening and expanding protections for health care providers who have religious- or conscience-based objections to procedures such as abortion.” It went on to say that “the makeover appears radical, one that critics worry will jeopardize the care of pregnant women and transgender individuals, as well as others who could be denied certain procedures.”

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT OF NOTE

Member, Board of Directors, One Nation Health Coalition, 2017

Director, Christ Medicus CURO Catholic Health Ministry, 2014 – 2017

Steering Committee Member, Marisol Health (“Denver based Catholic women’s health provider”), 2016 – 2017

Board Member, National Committee on a Human Life Amendment (a Catholic-church backed non-profit formed in 1974 to overturn Roe v. Wade), 2017

Legislative Counsel, U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren, 2011 – 2013  

TIES TO OTHER ANTI-CHOICE EXTREMISTS

Mike O’Dea:

Michael “Mike” O’Dea, the executive director and founder of the Christ Medicus Foundation (CMF), is listed on Brown’s CV as a reference. Brown worked at CMF, a health “ministry” which helps its members find health care they “don’t have to compromise their faith for,” from 2014 to 2017. O’Dea specializes in “Christ-centered health care” — insurance that won’t cover “contraception, sterilization, and abortion.” In addition to his work with CMF, O’Dea spoke about a pregnancy center he runs with his wife at a Heritage Foundation panel in 2004. His work with teenagers through the center led him to try and “find out why our health plans are subsidizing and promoting a culture of death.”

Dan Lungren:

Brown worked for Rep. Dan Lungren for two years as a legislative counsel. Lungren is an anti-abortion Republican from California who has preached his belief in the “sanctity of innocent life and its protection as a matter of societal good.”

HIGHLIGHTS

Brown Worked For The DNC For One Month Before Resigning Over The Introduction Of The Affordable Care Act:

After joining the Democratic National Committee as a staffer in November 2009, Brown resigned just a month into the job when asked to promote Obamacare because, as he penned in an op-ed, he “could not support a health care bill that would fail to protect the unborn” [Public Discourse, “Politics in Witness to Truth,” 9/17/13].

Brown Said That People Who Want To “Build A Culture Of Life” Must “Change The Culture, We Have To Advance A Christ-Centered Culture”:

Brown said, “We think it’s an extraordinary part of advancing the gospel of life…we as people who want to build a culture of life, the people who want to proclaim the gospel of life in politics, in legislation and all of that, it’s extraordinarily important that we continue to elect pro-life leaders in politics, in the courts. It’s extraordinarily important that we continue to advance this movement, but if we really want to advance it to the full we have to change the culture, we have to advance a Christ-centered culture and healthcare sharing is an extraordinarily important part of that.” [CMF Curo YouTube, accessed 6/11/18].

THE WHOLE STORY

Louis A. Brown Is An Anti-Abortion Ideologue

Brown Has Been Involved With And Worked For Organizations And Individuals Committed To Limiting Access To Reproductive Health Care 

Brown Served On The Board Of Directors Of A Group That Focused On Overturning Roe v. Wade And Limiting Abortion and Birth Control Rights 

Louis A. Brown, Jr. Served On The Board Of Directors For The National Committee On A Human Life Amendment. Brown joined the board of directors of the National Committee on a Human Life Amendment, He left the organization’s board in July 2017. [Louis Brown Public Financial Disclosure Report, 5/31/17, accessed via ProPublica].

  • The National Committee For A Human Life Amendment Is A Catholic-Church Backed Non-Profit Formed In 1974 Focused On Overturning Roe V. Wade And Doe V. Bolton. [Human Life Action, accessed 10/18/18] 

Brown Served On The Board Of Directors Of A Group That Focused On Overturning The Affordable Care Act, Including Protections For Reproductive Health...

Louis A. Brown, Jr. Also Served On The Board For One Nation Health, An Organization Aligned With Congressman Paul Ryan That Pushed To Unravel The Affordable Care Act And Its Birth Control Mandate. [Louis Brown Public Financial Disclosure Report, 5/31/17, accessed via ProPublica].

  • Paul Ryan’s Former Chief Of Staff Was Senior Advisor To Brown’s HHS Colleague Mary Vigil’s Former Employer One Nation Health “John David “Dave” Hoppe is Senior Advisor to One Nation Health and was most recently Chief of Staff for U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.” [One Nation Health, accessed 12/20/17]
  • The Seemingly Now-Defunct Coalition Of One Nation Health Has Been Characterized As Nothing More Than A Group Of Republican Operatives Coming Together To Support Paul Ryan’s Health Insurance Overhaul Legislation “Citing the coalition as evidence of broad support [for Ryan’s legislation] is pure fantasy. The group doesn’t appear to have much of a membership or a following beyond a small handful of former Republican staff members, think-thank pundits and vendors brought together just for Ryan and his plan. The organization has not released a membership list, conceals its website registration using an anonymous proxy site, and its foundation documents were registered… within 24 hours of the public release of the GOP health plan.” [The Intercept 3/14/17]

… And Worked For A Prominent Anti-Abortion Former Congressman

Brown Worked For Fervent Anti-Abortion Congressman Dan Lungren In 2011. “I became a Republican. In October 2011, I joined the staff of then-California Congressman Dan Lungren as his legislative counsel and staffer to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. Despite a hard fight, Congressman Lungren lost his re-election race last November. I decided to return home to Michigan, practice law, and join the fight here to help take our country back.  And so, this African-American lawyer and former Democratic intern, law clerk, and staffer, is now firmly a Republican.” [Louis Brown, Public Discourse, 9/17/13]

  • Dan Lungren Has Stated That “Every Abortion Is A Tragedy.” “Lungren replied that he believes ‘every abortion is a tragedy’ and hoped to move public sentiment in that direction. At the same time, he insisted, his congressional votes against rape and incest exceptions were forced by procedural rules that prohibited amendments and required a straight up or down vote..” [Los Angeles Times, 8/19/98]

[Louis Brown Public Financial Disclosure Report, 5/31/17, accessed via ProPublica].

Brown Is A Major Proponent Of Christian Health Sharing Ministries That “Adhere To Church Teaching On Sexuality…” And Do Not Support Abortion.

Brown Led A Catholic Health Sharing Ministry For Individuals Who “Adhere To Church Teaching On Sexuality And Substance Abuse”…

Brown Was The Director Of The Catholic Health Sharing Ministry CMF CURO. “‘Think about the Gospels and how the Apostles lived,’ said CMF CURO director Louis A. Brown Jr. at the program’s Washington, D.C., debut. ‘They very much shared and cared for each other. And we’re saying: ‘Catholics, you can do that too.’’  CMF CURO was founded independent of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; officials there did not offer comment on it.” [Washington Post, 10/3/14]

CMF CURO  Is A Catholic Alternative To Health Insurance For Christians Who Abstain From Sex Outside Of Their Heterosexual Marriage And Don’t Support Abortion. “If you are a Christian who doesn’t smoke, abstains from sex outside your heterosexual marriage and can get your priest to vouch that you go to church at least three times a month, you may qualify for a new Catholic alternative to health insurance.  Taking a cue from evangelicals, a group of traditionalist Catholics on Thursday (Oct. 2) unveiled a cost-sharing network that they say honors their values and ensures that they are not even indirectly supporting health care services such as abortion that contradict their beliefs.  Christ Medicus Foundation CURO, as the group is called, will be financially integrated with Samaritan Ministries International, which was launched in 1991 by an evangelical home-schooling dad. The SMI network now serves 125,000 people and is exempt from the Affordable Care Act.” [Washington Post, 10/3/14]

Brown Publicly Lied About The Affordable Care Act And Its Influence

Brown Falsely Stated That The Affordable Care Act “Publicly Funded Abortion”

Brown Claimed That Obamacare “Publicly Funded Abortion.” Brown wrote:  “Over the next eighteen months, I watched from afar as President Obama signed a bill that publicly funded abortion, advanced regulations that undercut small business, and perpetuated the myth that the fundamental cause of poverty is a lack of money being thrown at the problem, an idea that ignores the threefold tragedies of greed, the breakdown of the family, and our collective failure to live in true solidarity with the materially impoverished.” [Public Discourse, “Politics in Witness to Truth,” 9/17/13]

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