Conference Speaker Bios
Clarke Forsythe, J.D. serves as Senior Counsel at Americans United for Life and is author of Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade. Clarke has argued cases before federal and state courts and has testified before Congress and state legislatures. He is also a prolific writer on pro-life policy issues, having published more than 19 law review articles and book chapters, as well as articles in First Things, the Wall Street Journal, and National Review. Clarke has a B.A. in Political Science from Allegheny College, a law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law, and an M.A. in Bioethics from Trinity International University.
Brad Lingo is the dean of Regent University School of Law. He co-founded Regent University’s Robertson Center for Constitutional Law and currently serves as its executive director. Before becoming dean of the School of Law, he served as the school’s associate dean for Academic Affairs. He has taught Contracts, State Constitutional Law, Appellate Advocacy, and Secured Transactions. His research and advocacy focus on constitutional law and religious liberty. His work has been published by the Wake Forest Law Review, Regent University Law Review, Pro Tempore, the Federalist Society, National Review Online, and the Center for Christian Thought and Action. He has filed amicus briefs on behalf of former members of Congress, religious organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ, Young Life, InterVarsity, and the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, and in U.S. Supreme Court cases such as Fulton v. City of Philadelphia and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Lingo received his law degree with honors from Harvard Law School, where he served as an executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He graduated first in his class and summa cum laude from Grove City College.
Peter Frank is the Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs at Grove City College. Frank also teaches economics.
Anne Hendershott is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where she has taught since 2013. Formerly a tenured professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego from 1993-2007, she also served as Director of the Politics, Philosophy and Economics Program at the King’s College in New York City from 2007 until 2013. A contributor to the op-ed pages of newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, USA Today, and the San Diego Union-Tribune, she also has published articles in City Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside HigherEd, National Review, American Spectator, American Greatness, The American Conservative, Catholic World Report, Crisis Magazine and Human Life Review. She is the author of seven books including, most recently, The Politics of Envy.
Lucia Hunt is a Veritas Center Undergraduate Fellow and junior Theology and Pre-Law major at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is actively involved in the ProLife movement. Her contributions and commentary have been featured on EWTN, Fox News, Students for Life, Franciscan Presents, The College Fix, Real America’s Voice, and Catholic News Agency. Most notably, Lucia curated the Stop Aborted Fetal Experiments National Conference at the University of Pittsburgh in November 2021 in response to their unethical abortive fetal cell research. Lucia resides in Dallas, Texas, and works for First Liberty Institute as an administrative and legal intern. Lucia plans to attend law school next year to continue fighting for Christian values and the voices of unborn children.
Jason Edwards serves as a Professor of History at Grove City College. A fellow for the Institute for Faith and Freedom and a former Lehrman Scholar and Salvatori Fellow with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Edwards co-authored the book Ask the Professor: What Freshmen Need to Know. Edwards’ writings on history, culture, and education have appeared in such publications as the Washington Times, University Bookman, and Touchstone. He has coached Grove City College individuals and teams to 28 National Championships in collegiate debate.
Carl Trueman is professor of humanities at Grove City College in Pennsylvania and a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He was born in Dudley in the United Kingdom and grew up in the idyllic rural surroundings of the West Country. He has previously been a faculty member at the Universities of Nottingham and Aberdeen in the UK and Westminster Theological Seminary (PA). For the academic year of 2017 – 18, he was the William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in Religion and Public Life on the James Madison Program at Princeton University. From 2012 to 2018 he was also Pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Ambler, Pa. In his spare time he runs, listens to rock and classical music, and does what his wife tells him.
Abby Johnson has always had a fierce determination to help women in need. It was this desire that both led Abby to a career with Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider, and caused her to flee the organization and become an outspoken advocate for the pro-life movement. During her eight years with Planned parenthood, Abby quickly rose in the ranks and became a clinic director. She was increasingly disturbed by what she witnessed. Abortion was a product that Planned Parenthood was selling, not an unfortunate necessity they fought to decrease. All of that changed on September 26, 2009 when Abby was asked to assist with an ultrasound-guided abortion. She watched in horror as a 13-week old baby fought, and ultimately lost, its life at the hand of an abortionist. At that moment, the full realization of what abortion was and what she had dedicated her life to washed over Abby and a dramatic transformation took place.
Desperate and confused, Abby sought help from a local pro-life group. She swore she would begin to advocate for life in the womb and expose abortion for what it truly is.
The media continues to be intensely interested in Abby’s story as well as her continued efforts to advocate for the unborn and help clinic workers escape the abortion industry. Abby shared her story at the 2020 Republican National Convention and is frequently requested as a guest on Fox News and other outlets. She is the author of the nationally bestselling book and movie adaptation, Unplanned, which chronicles both her experiences with Planned Parenthood and her dramatic exit.
David Ayers is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Psychology, Social Work and Sociology. Dr. Ayers has been at Grove City College since 1996, previously serving as Dean of the Calderwood School of Arts and Letters, and Interim Provost and VPAA. He completed his Ph.D at New York University, his M.A. at American University, and his B.A. at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. His graduate degrees are in Sociology, but his undergraduate is in Psychology. Ayers latest book is After the Revolution: Sex and the Single Evangelical. In addition, his short book Track: Dating, Marriage & Sex: A Student’s Guide to Dating, Marriage & Sex was released by Christian Focus Publications this January. Ayers’ Why Would Anyone Get Married? was published by Modern Reformation’s Core Christianity in January 2022. Christian Marriage: A Comprehensive Introduction was published by Lexham Press in February 2019. Dr. Ayers also writes regularly for: Crisis Magazine, The Gospel Coalition, The Institute for Family Studies, and he has written major print pieces for Modern Reformation and Christianity Today. Work related to his topic for this conference was published with the first two of these outlets.
Alexandra DeSanctis is a writer at National Review, where she covers politics, elections, culture, and abortion policy. She first joined NR as a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism with the National Review Institute and since 2018 has been a staff writer. She has been a regular commentator on NR’s podcast “The Editors.” Her writing has been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and The Atlantic, among other publications. She speaks for high-school and college audiences across the country about abortion and the pro-life movement. DeSanctis is co-author, with Ryan T. Anderson, of the 2022 book Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing.
Kathryn Jean Lopez is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, where she directs the Center for Religion, Culture, and Civil Society. She is also editor-at-large of National Review magazine (where she has been on the editorial staff, including as editor of NationalReview.com, since 1997). She is published widely in Catholic and secular publications and is also a nationally syndicated columnist with Andrews McMeel Universal. Lopez is author of A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living (Saint Benedict Press, 2019). She speaks frequently on faith in public life, virtue, and prayer. Lopez currently serves as chair of Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s Pro-Life Commission in New York. At the opening Mass of the Year of Faith in Rome in October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI presented her with a message to women throughout the world.
Michael Medved hosts a daily talk radio show and podcast that combines politics and pop culture, history and values. He is also a New York Times best-selling author of 14 nonfiction books–most recently THE AMERICAN MIRACLE: DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN THE RISE OF THE REPUBLIC, and its follow-up GOD’S HAND ON AMERICA: DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN THE MODERN ERA. In this series, Michael describes astonishing incidents in which luck, nature, or some higher power seems to intervene on behalf of the United States. An honors graduate of Yale, he also attended Yale Law School and has worked as both a political speechwriter and Hollywood screenwriter. He is a member of USA TODAY‘s Board of Contributors and his pieces appear frequently in the Wall Street Journal and Commentary. Michael has lectured for religious, political, and academic audiences in all 50 states and six Canadian provinces. His three-hour daily radio show streams live all across the country, with information available on how to access the broadcast at michaelmedved.com. He’s been married to Dr. Diane Medved, clinical psychologist and best-selling author, for 37 years; they are the parents of three grown children and grandparents of the five most remarkable grandchildren on God’s Green Earth.
Mikayla Covington is the Director of International Operations at Promise of Life Network, a medical pregnancy network with physical offices that serve 5 counties in Western PA, and an international chatline that has served over 15,000 women from 63 countries. Mikayla earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Geneva College, and her Master of Arts in Communication from Duquesne University. She is in her final year of doctoral studies at Duquesne, where she is earning a PhD in Rhetoric, with a focus on rhetoric and philosophy of technology and crisis communication/communication ethics in the public sphere. Mikayla also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Duquesne.
Jay Cost is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Faith & Freedom, where he focuses on elections, politics, and public opinion. He is also a columnist for National Review and the Pittsburgh Post – Gazette. Dr. Cost was an election analyst for RealClearPolitics and a lecturer at Robert Morris University. He has also taught a graduate seminar at the University of Chicago. Cost has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in government and history from the University of Virginia.
Elisha Krauss is a conservative commentator, writer, and podcaster. Currently, she is a host of The Washington Examiner Newsmaker Series. Previously she was a co-host and contributor at Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire. Krauss also cohosted the Ricochet Ladybrains podcast with a rotating cast of friends: Mary Katharine Ham, Kelly Maher, Bethany Mandel, Lyndsey Fifield, and Emily Zanotti. Krauss previously hosted a morning drive radio show in Los Angeles with Shapiro for four years and produced the syndicated Sean Hannity Radio Show for seven years. She has also worked with Truth Revolt as a grassroots organizer and writer, PragerU as their Director of Outreach, and ran a congressional campaign in her home state of Oklahoma. Her media appearances include CNN, NBC, MSNBC, OANN, Newsmax TV, Fox News, and more. Krauss has a special place in her heart for radio and podcasting. She enjoys talking about issues related to the pro-life point of view, the Second Amendment, traditional family values, school choice, small government, free speech, feminism, and professional growth.