What can YOU do to fight for abortion access after Dobbs?

UPDATE - Please Join our Emergency Call on Tuesday, 6/28 at 3pm ET - How Lawyers Can Fight for Abortion Access and Other Civil and Human Rights. This is an on-demand webinar and all registrants will receive a copy of the webinar (even if you’re reading this after 6/28).

The Supreme Court today ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, an indefensible decision that strips away a fundamental and constitutional right to bodily autonomy. It’s a shattering blow that will harm millions and impact all of us. 

Half of the states in the U.S. are now likely to follow suit and severely restrict or ban abortion. As a result, even more people will be forced to travel hundreds of miles out of state or carry pregnancies to term against their will in violation of their human rights. 

Millions of individuals across the U.S. still need abortion care. The right to decide whether or when to have a child is essential for social, economic, and racial equality. 

DOING NOTHING IN THE FACE OF THIS DECISION IS NOT AN OPTION.

Here are 4 concrete things you can do to help fight for abortion access:

1. Get Informed: Learn what the Dobbs decision means for your state or territory. What is the current status of abortion access in your state? Do you know if your state has a pre-Roe ban on abortion that was never repealed and might be enforced once again? Does your state have a trigger ban that is intended to ban abortion if the Supreme Court limits or overturns Roe? To learn more about the status of abortion rights in your state or territory, we recommend two policy maps, one from the Center for Reproductive Rights and one from Guttmacher Institute here.
   

2. Volunteer your time and expertise to help protect abortions in your state. We must pursue proactive protections beyond the courts and focus our efforts on building power from the ground up, at the state and local levels. Below are a few ways you can do that.
   

   • If you’re a lawyer or a law student, sign up for L4GG’s new State Legislative Advocacy Academy, a first-of-its-kind training series for lawyers to learn how to use their unique skills and privilege to influence public policy in their home states. Members of our initial lawyer cohort will go through a multi-part training in the fall of 2022 ready to fight for abortion access and other key issues in their own state during the 2023 legislative session.
     

   • If you’re a lawyer at a large law firm, ask your pro bono coordinator whether your firm is a Pro Bono Partner of L4GG. If your firm is already a partner, there may be opportunities forthcoming for you to volunteer for abortion access projects that our policy team is working on. If your firm would like to learn more about partnering with us, please ask your pro bono coordinator to email us at probono@L4GG.org.
     

   • If none of the above opportunities is applicable to you, but you'd still like to help, make sure you’re on our email list and check the websites of some of our organizational allies for other ways to volunteer - The Brigid Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights are good places to start.
     

3. Donate to the L4GG Action Fund to advance state protections to abortion access and other issues of civil and human rights. L4GG is working on two fronts to protect abortion access and we need your support. First, we’re launching the above-mentioned Advocacy Academy this fall that will mobilize lawyers nationwide to influence public policy in their own states on issues like reproductive and racial justice. Second, we are working in coalition with leading abortion access groups to ensure they have the legal resources they need to enact new state-level protections of abortion care, including providing them with pro bono volunteers and trained state legislative advocates from our Advocacy Academy.
   

4. Support providers, patients, abortion funds, and clinics on the ground. If abortion is protected in your state, support your local providers with the resources they will need to serve out-of-state patients in light of Dobbs. If abortion is not protected in your state, consider supporting the Brigid Alliance or your local Abortion Fund to cover procedures, transportation, lodging, and more. The National Network of Abortion Funds is a great place to start.

If you’re unable to offer money, time, or expertise right now, you can still help by sharing this post with your friends, family, and contacts via email, Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks. Please help us get the word out. 

The L4GG Action Fund is a 501(c)4 nonprofit, and as such donations are not tax-deductible.

1400+ Lawyers from all 50 States, DC, & Puerto Rico Call on Senate to Confirm Vanita Gupta & Kristen Clarke

Today, L4GG the nation’s largest network of attorneys committed to upholding human rights and equal justice for all, submitted an open letter, signed by more than 1,400 attorneys representing 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to confirm Vanita Gupta for the position of Associate Attorney General, confirm Kristen Clarke for the position of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and to support other nominees who have experience leading the fight for civil rights. 

VIEW THE LETTER HERE:  https://l4gg.org/Support-Gupta-Clarke

The letter was sent ahead of Clarke’s nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, tomorrow, Wednesday April 14, and argues that Donald Trump’s administration worked to undermine civil and human rights on a number of different fronts, and to repair the damage done, the nation needs leaders at the Department of Justice who have experience fighting against injustice. After years of leading the fight for civil rights at two of the nation’s premier civil rights organizations, Gupta and Clarke are exactly the experienced leaders that our country needs. The letter also included signatures from more than 400 non-attorney advocates.

“The legal community is banding together at this moment to support the nominations of Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke because the future of our nation is at stake,” said Lawyers for Good Government’s president Traci Feit Love. “We call on every Senator who believes in equal justice under the law to help heal our country from the scourge of white supremacy by taking a stand for civil rights and voting to confirm Gupta and Clarke.”

“We applaud President Biden’s leadership in nominating these two civil rights experts to important positions at the Department of Justice,” said Lawyers for Good Government’s Vice President of Policy and Strategic Engagement Adam Fernandez. “I have worked with both Gupta and Clarke and am a civil rights attorney myself. Working in civil rights is about ensuring all people have equal access to justice regardless of their background. Gupta and Clarke’s dedication to civil rights and their expertise makes them uniquely qualified to lead the Department of Justice, and we hope they are the first of many nominees to positions across the Administration and the courts that share their credentials.”