Lullabies and Sirens: Parenting Through A National Crisis

Guest Opinion by AshLeigh Meyer Dunham

After a much-needed workout, I checked my phone in the car before going inside to relieve my husband from solo parenting. Like parents all over the country, I had just watched  Alex Pretti be killed on social media. Moments later, I walked into my kitchen to find my four-year-old in a princess dress, happily waiting for nuggets and applesauce. A friend came over for a playdate, also a lawyer, not particularly political, and she broke down describing the heartbreak of watching a five-year-old Liam taken from his home. Between our tears, refereeing nuggets from the dog, and kids abandoning lunch for superhero games, we talked about due process, fear, and the future our children will inherit. Holding grief and hope at the same time is exhausting, but as mothers, we don’t get the luxury of looking away. 

I have always been a student of the Constitution. My mother gave me books as a child about the creation of this wonderful document, and that instilled in me a true love for our freedom under the law. I knew at seven that I would be a lawyer. I speak of my love for the law and our constitutional rights with admiration and conviction. In undergrad, I took as many constitutional classes as I could. In law school, it was one of my favorite classes. I have devoted my entire life to the institutions that protect us using these foundations. Today, I use my social media to explain these laws to everyone. I’ve told people to trust the courts. I’ve spent my career teaching people to believe in the law. Now I struggle to explain to myself why it isn’t protecting us. It is destabilizing to explain fairness to a child while I am watching it disappear in real time.  

There is a dangerous claim circulating that the Constitution does not apply to immigrants. That is simply false. For more than a century, the Supreme Court has been clear that the Constitution protects “persons,” not just citizens. From Yick Wo v. Hopkins to Plyler v. Doe to modern due process cases, the Court has repeatedly affirmed that people inside our borders, documented or undocumented, are entitled to basic constitutional protections like equal protection, due process, and access to the courts. When we start pretending that some people fall outside the protection of the law, we are not defending the Constitution, we are dismantling it. And as a mother, that is not the lesson I want my child to learn about what justice means in America. That lesson will lead to an erosion of our rights. 

I worry about my little girl every day. My mind is weighed down by her school safety, her ability to make decisions regarding her own body and safety, and whether the laws will shield her or target her. I realized that I cannot stand by and protect myself, but I had to put myself out there and run for Alabama Supreme Court to make sure that I am able to protect her rights under the Constitution. If I protect the constitution, I can do my part to protect her and other children in this state. My career has been dedicated to protecting children. In recent years, I have held foster children in my courtroom when the adults around them failed them. Children are always the ones who pay for adult failures.  

So, I ask you, dear reader, what does it mean to raise a child to believe in justice when justice is inconsistently applied? 

We keep fighting as mothers, parents, and protectors. The Courts are the last defense for our Constitutional Rights. You learn what rights you have, and you push for them to be protected for our babies. I’m still here parenting, advocating, and believing that protecting children is our moral obligation, not a political one. Love is resistance and we can all join together to say that it is not right to take a child in a bunny hat off the streets. We count on our community and know that showing up matters precisely because our protections are so fragile. We protect our neighbors. We love our neighbors and their babies. 

At the end of each day, I tuck my daughter into bed and whisper that she is safe, that the world is good, that the people who are supposed to protect her will do so. But safety is not a feeling, it is a promise we have to keep. As a mother, I cannot accept a world where her rights depend on who is in power, where the law bends around convenience or political agenda, or where some children are deemed less worthy of protection than others. And as a lawyer, I know that the Constitution only works if we insist that it applies to everyone. So, I will keep showing up for her, for your children, for the families we pass on sidewalks and sit beside in waiting rooms. I do this because the future they deserve will not be handed to us. It must be defended, together. Will you join me?

AshLeigh Meyer Dunham is a Jefferson County Juvenile Court Referee and a fertility attorney at Magic City Fertility Law, with a career devoted to serving Alabama families. She brings fairness, clarity, and compassion to sensitive juvenile and family matters, helping create stability for children in crisis. A mother through IVF herself, AshLeigh understands the personal stakes of fertility care and advocates for clear legal protections so families can grow without having to leave Alabama.

Dunham is seeking election to the Alabama Supreme Court, Place 8. She is unopposed in the Democratic primary on May 19, and will face Republican Craig Shaw in the general election on November 3.

For more information, visit https://ashleighforalabama.com or follow her on social media.

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