Staff

Joe Pojman, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Dr. Joe Pojman is the executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, a statewide pro-life organization based in Austin. Dr. Pojman has legislatively advocated for pro-life issues in the state Capitol for over thirty years… Read more about Joe Pojman.

Kristyn Begari

Director of Administration

Deirdre Cooper

Public Policy Analyst

Deirdre has worked at Texas Alliance for Life since April 2008. She received her degrees in Psychology, Political Science and History from Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY. After graduating with honors, she moved back to the D.C. area and worked in the policy department of the Family Research Council, where she met her husband, Kody. Her research at F.R.C. was focused on Planned Parenthood’s lack of informed consent, which prepared her well for pro-life work in Texas. She has legislatively advocated for the sonogram bill, the Choose Life license plate, defunding Planned Parenthood, H.B. 2, and the Human Life Protection Act in Texas. In 2021, her beloved unborn son, Bosco Joseph Paul, died during childbirth due to complications from Trisomy 18. His life has been the catalyst for her advocacy in protecting unborn children with disabilities from discrimination.

She enjoys keeping the organization’s Facebook page up-to-date, and raising her 9 children.

Amy O’Donnell

Director of Communications

Amy O’Donnell has been a vital part of the Texas Alliance for Life team since August 2018, serving as the Director of Communications and member of the Public Policy Team. Amy has been instrumental in advocating for significant pro-life legislation, including the Human Life Protection Act (HB 1280), the Chemical Abortion Safety Protocols Bill (SB 4), Senate Bill 22 (banning contracts between governmental entities and abortion providers and affiliates), the Texas Born Alive Infant Protection Act, and increased funding for the Alternatives to Abortion program.

As a spokesperson for Texas Alliance for Life, Amy has been featured in national and international media, providing insights, discussion, and debate on breaking pro-life news stories and Texas abortion laws. Her interviews have appeared in The New York Times, Politico, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, USA Today, Texas Tribune, Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle, and numerous major broadcast news outlets across Texas, the United States, and beyond. Additionally, Amy has emceed press conferences alongside local, state, and national leaders and been a featured speaker at partner events and fundraisers.

Amy has a background in Women’s Ministry and a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University. She resides just outside Austin with her husband, David, and their four children: Russel, Brendan, Ethan, and Kylie.

Lance Peterson

Director of Financial Development

Peterson has a bachelor’s from Michigan State University’s School of Hospitality Business and an M.B.A. in International Management. After spending seven years in hotel sales and marketing, Lance spent two years in Asia working for the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 2000, Lance moved to Austin, Texas, from Vietnam to work for Wayport and, later, with STSN, in their sales and marketing divisions, where he sold and consulted on network installations.

Ashley Sosa

Communications Associate

Ashley is a first-generation Mexican American and college graduate from Texas  A&M University-San Antonio, with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a concentration in Spanish. She has experience in the broadcasting industry, working for her university’s news station and interning at Univision Latin News Network. Her passion for protecting the most vulnerable came from volunteering at “La Diferencia Hospice,” where she provided end-of-life care to her patients. She looks forward to informing the youth about ways to stay active in the pro-life movement and bringing to light the resources that are available to women in the State of Texas.

Regan Hogan

Public Policy Analyst

Regan graduated from Howard Payne University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in American History. He has spent the last few years covering numerous House and Senate committees during the legislative sessions at the state Capitol. He has volunteered at several pro-life events and is passionate about his faith, family, fishing, and football.

Paul Linton, Special Counsel

Paul Linton is a private practice attorney specializing in state and federal constitutional law. Before entering private practice, he was General Counsel for Americans United for Life.

Mr. Linton has represented amici curiae in landmark beginning-of-life and end-of-life cases in the United States Supreme Court, including Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989), Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dep’t of Health (1990), Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), Washington v. Glucskberg (1997), Vacco v. Quill (1997), Stenberg v. Carhart (2000), Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (2006), Gonzales v. Oregon (2006), Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America (2007). He has also submitted briefs in most federal courts of appeals and a majority of the state supreme courts in the United States.

Mr. Linton has published nineteen law review articles on a variety of topics, including the history of abortion regulation and the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence, state equal rights amendments, criminal law, sex discrimination, same-sex marriage, and assisted suicide, as well as multiple articles in journals of opinion. He has also published the only comprehensive analysis of abortion rights claims under state constitutions, ABORTION UNDER STATE CONSTITUTIONS A State-by-State Analysis (Carolina Academic Press) (2d ed. 2012). He received his undergraduate (B.A. Honors) and law (J.D.) degrees from the Loyola University of Chicago.