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 Do you know if your state has a pre-Roe ban on abortion that was never repealed and might be enforced once again?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.

L4GG's Spring 2022 Newsletter is here!

We’re at a critical time in the fight for human rights — between the invasion of Ukraine, the legislative attacks on bodily autonomy and the worsening climate crisis, the situation seems dire. But I am heartened by the way the Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) community of lawyers and advocates has risen to meet the moment. 

For example, we’ve kicked off our TPS Pro Bono Project for Ukraine, we’re teaching municipalities how to access funding for green infrastructure, shedding light on corporal punishment in public schools and much more.

Take a look at our newsletter below to learn more, and if you want to help us continue this vital work, consider making a donation. 

L4GG, PROJECT CORAZON CONDEMN REPORTED DELAY IN LIFTING TITLE 42

Immigrants’ Rights Group Project Corazon Points to Harms to Asylum Seekers Between Now and May 23, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Many media outlets are now reporting that the Biden Administration plans to end its use of Title 42, a harmful and discriminatory policy of excluding asylum seekers from asking for asylum because of COVID19, by May 23, 2022. 

Seeking asylum is a right under U.S. and international law. Title 42, initially invoked by the Trump Administration in 2020, designated hundreds of thousands of migrants for “expulsion” in lieu of providing them with the right to seek asylum, arguing that allowing these migrants to enter the U.S. may increase the spread of COVID-19. In the past two years, it is estimated that more than 1.5 million asylum seekers have been expelled under this policy. 

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), which provides free legal services to vulnerable migrants at the border through its Project Corazon initiative, supports the Administration decision to end the use of Title 42, but calls for an end to the use of Title 42 now. Two months more of this harmful and discriminatory policy will only mean two more months of already-vulnerable individuals being left in potentially deadly situations. 

“Since its inception, the application of Title 42 to asylum seekers has been extremely cruel,” says Estuardo Cifuentes, Client Services Manager and Guatemalan asylum seeker with Project Corazon at Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). “The expulsion of those seeking protection by sending them to places where they face persecution or torture violates laws and obligations under international treaties. Two years later Title 42 continues to cause harm, and now we are faced with two more months. I hope that its termination will be accompanied by policies that will allow a fair and humane process for the thousands of people who continue to suffer at the border.” 

“While I’m relieved that Title 42 will be ending in May, I cried when I heard that it would remain in effect until May 23rd,” says Jessica Riley, Staff Attorney with Project Corazon at Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). “We have clients in crisis right now seeking asylum at the border who are sick or who have already been kidnapped and tortured in Mexico. They need help right now, not on May 23rd. And at the end of the next two months, what damage will have been done to the lives of asylum seekers at the border? What the southern border needs is for Title 42 to end now and the implementation of an efficient and humane system that ensures due process and treats asylum seekers who have been in such terrible situations with dignity.”

“We are extremely disappointed in the delay for lifting Title 42,” says Traci Feit Love, Executive Director of Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG). “While we are glad the Biden Administration is taking steps to end this harmful and discriminatory policy, we remain deeply concerned for people whose lives are currently at stake and who will continue to suffer every single day between now and the May 23 repeal. As the Biden Administration considers how to welcome asylum seekers at the border in a humane and dignified way, we also urge them to work directly with frontline organizations and asylum seekers who have invaluable feedback and experiences to share.”

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Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) coordinates large scale pro bono programs and issue advocacy efforts to protect human rights and ensure equal justice under the law, and has a network of 125,000+ lawyers to assist in its efforts.

Helping Afghan Refugees, Fighting for Clean Drinking Water, & More

In times of crisis, L4GG mobilizes quickly, such as with the pro bono project we’re currently building to help Ukrainian nationals in the U.S. apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). But that doesn’t mean our existing work stops. 

Here’s a quick update on 4 of the ways L4GG is making a difference in our communities right now, with your support:

1. Helping Afghan Refugees

We recently completed a pilot project in partnership with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and Kirkland & Ellis to support Afghan families who arrived in the U.S. as refugees by airlift after America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Through this program, nearly 100 Afghan refugees were screened and received legal assistance to complete and file applications for asylum and adjustment of status. Our pro bono volunteers were deeply moved by the experience, and told us that they were honored to serve this community. 

We are now exploring ways to replicate and build on the success of the pilot project, to help even more refugees secure immigration stability. 

2. Fighting for Clean Drinking Water in Michigan

L4GG’s Climate Change team recently launched a project in partnership with Great Lakes Environmental Law Center (GLELC) to establish a right to clean, affordable drinking water in Michigan. We’re focusing first on the community of Benton Harbor, Michigan, where the residents, 90% of whom are people of color, are forced to rely on bottled water as a result of lead contamination in their water supply over the past three years. 

Together with GLELC, we’re conducting FOIA research and document analysis to determine how and why the Benton Harbor Water Crisis took place, and help ensure the infrastructure is fixed as quickly as possible. Next, we’ll write a report and draft policy recommendations to help protect Benton Harbor and other disadvantaged communities in Michigan from lead water crises in the future.

You can read more about our climate change work, and our climate change director, Jillian Blanchard, here. 

3. Advancing Racial Justice through State Legislative Advocacy 

You may have seen our inaugural policy report on child farmworkers late last year. Since its launch, we’ve been hard at work with our coalition partners, developing policy recommendations for all 52 states, and working to improve labor employment protections for child farmworkers at the state level. L4GG’s Policy team, led by Vice President of Policy and Strategic Engagement, Mika Fernandez, is working to see this process recreated multiple times for issues with large support that impact marginalized communities, such as voting rights, criminal justice reform, and more. 

Read this interview with Mika to learn more about Lawyers for Racial Justice, and how L4GG hopes to plug into important state legislative battlegrounds in 2022. 

4. Defending the Rights of Asylum Seekers

We’re continuing our work both on the southern border and for asylum seekers throughout the country. On the border, our Project Corazon team continues to secure humanitarian parole for particularly vulnerable asylum seekers (i.e., those with medical or psychological conditions, pregnant women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and third-language speakers). And, through our Work Permit Pro Bono Program, we’re securing work permits for asylum seekers once they’ve entered the U.S so they can provide for themselves and their families while awaiting the outcome of their asylum cases. 

We recently received a very touching note from an asylum seeker we helped secure her work permit - here’s an excerpt: 

““Thanks to [Project Corazon’s] dedication to service and spirit of solidarity towards others, they achieved in less than a month what I had not achieved in 2 and a half years — SECURING MY SOCIAL AND WORK PERMIT. God bless you greatly.””

That’s just a small look at what we’re working on at the moment, and we’re so grateful to be doing this work with and for our L4GG community. Thank you for your continued support. 

Statement On Justice Breyer's Retirement

Mika Fernandez, Lawyers for Good Government’s (L4GG) Vice President of Policy and Strategic Engagement releases the following statement on the retirement of Justice Steven Breyer from the Supreme Court. 

“L4GG celebrates Justice Steven Breyer for his 27 years on the Supreme Court, where he fought for equality and justice for all Americans and was a critical voice for health care, women’s reproductive freedom, voting rights, and the environment. We thank him for his service.

President Biden now has the opportunity to nominate a jurist who will zealously defend civil rights and constitutional protections for all people in the country, solidify our government’s commitment to human rights and equal justice under the law, and bring much-needed racial and professional diversity to the nation’s highest court. L4GG is prepared to fight for such a nominee and to fight for her swift confirmation by the Senate. 

We ask lawyers to join us in the coming days as we organize the legal profession’s response to this Supreme Court vacancy.”

To sign up for action alerts via SMS, please text “SCOTUS” to 404-382-9644. 

To donate to the L4GG Action Fund, our 501(c)4, click here. 

L4GG Celebrates Five Years With Event Series

In November of 2016, Traci Feit Love made a post on Facebook, as a lawyer, a parent, and a person uncertain about the future, and wanting to make change. When she made that post, she had no idea what that spark would ignite, and how many lawyers would respond. 

Now, five years later, Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) has grown into an organization with thousands of supporters like you, all across the country, who are working towards real change. We are lawyers, law students, and activists who believe in using our skills and expertise to build a better world, from the halls of legislation to making an impact on-the-ground.

L4GG would like to invite you to join us for a series of events to celebrate L4GG’s impact over the last five years, and share with you our vision for the future of L4GG. 

Check out the schedule of events here and click Follow Calender to register. You can attend as many events as you’d like — whatever works for your schedule. 

Can’t make an event? Register and we’ll send you the recording, that way you don’t miss out. 

From the bottom of my heart, L4GG thanks you for your continued support throughout the years. We hope you’ll join us to celebrate the future, and for whatever the next 5 years will bring. 

L4GG Calls on Congress to Enact an Independent Commission on 1/6 Insurrection

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has announced that he’s opposed to creating a Congressional commission to examine and report the facts and causes relating to the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol.

In advance of the vote in the House of Representatives to advance legislation to create an independent commission, L4GG is calling on Congress to step up and enact the commission.

We’ve created a sign on letter and are asking our community of lawyers and activists to join.

What happened on January 6th was an attack on our democracy and threatens future peaceful transfers of power in our country. We must take this threat seriously.

Every day that our leaders in Congress delay enacting a commission is another day that a substantial portion of the electorate - and even a portion of Congress - denies the truth of what happened that day. 

We need Congress to step up and enact the commission. This is bigger than party - this is the future of our country. 

Sign our Letter now. 

Urge Congress to enact a commission.

Tell them that our nation cannot heal without accountability and that we cannot silence those who would speak the truth. 

Join us.

In solidarity,

Traci

Traci Feit Love
President & Executive Director
Lawyers for Good Government