Litigation
Our Approach
When Lift launched in 2016, we initiated the creation of a Legal Advocacy Program with a twofold purpose: to undertake impact litigation that safeguards reproductive rights and to extend legal support to both patients and providers. This program encompasses litigation efforts aimed at challenging abortion-related laws and regulations. It also includes initiatives like the Louisiana Judicial Bypass Project, offering legal representation to minors seeking abortion care. Moreover, Lift provides the public with regular updates on litigation progress, accompanied by resources and messaging guidance that empower advocates to effectively address these matters within their communities.
Lift is actively engaged in training attorneys to provide pro-bono legal representation for individuals facing charges related to self-managed abortion or pregnancy loss. Collaborating with both state and national partners, Lift addresses the growing concerns surrounding arrests, prosecutions, detentions, and coerced medical procedures. Our collective efforts are dedicated to safeguarding the autonomy of all pregnant individuals and upholding their rights.
Challenge Against Louisiana's Licensing Regulations
In 2017, Lift provided financial support and legal expertise, enabling Hope Medical Clinic to file a lawsuit, claiming that the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) violated the agency’s statutory authority and the Administrative Procedures Act in promulgating TRAP regulations (targeted regulations of abortion providers) in 2015.
In September 2018, attorneys supported by Lift filed a motion for summary judgment, with substantial supporting evidence, requesting that the court strike down these regulations as a matter of law, for failing to take the public’s comments into account or respond to the public’s input, which are fundamental legal requirements when state agencies impose new regulations. The Judge granted the motion for summary judgment and held that the state’s abortion clinic regulations are invalid because they were not properly promulgated by LDH, as required by state law.
This case was pending appeal when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and Louisiana enacted its abortion bans. Since then, all abortion clinics in Louisiana have closed
Challenge Against Louisiana's COVID-19 Response to Abortion Clinics
As COVID-19 began to spread in the U.S. in 2020, various orders came down from governors and health departments across the nation limiting healthcare services that were not considered essential care. Several anti-choice states callously used this as an opportunity to close down abortion clinics. Lift Louisiana proactively began conversations with the state in hopes of preventing such actions in Louisiana. Unfortunately, the state engaged very little in those negotiations. Then, the Louisiana Department of Health illogically punted the issue over to the state's Attorneys General's (AG's) office, which immediately issued press releases calling for the closure of Louisiana's three remaining abortion clinics. Next, in an unprecedented move, the AG's office sent law enforcement agents to storm clinics, demanding patient records.
Lift Louisiana, with our partners at the Center for Reproductive Rights, immediately filed a lawsuit to protect abortion access and the other healthcare services that these clinics provide. We were able to proactively sue the state, preventing them from closing clinics for any amount of time. We resolved the dispute with the state, reaching an agreement ensuring access to abortion care could continue at all three clinics, without unlawful interference from the state. The suit was dismissed without prejudice.
Protecting Abortion Access for Young People
Before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and abortion was banned in Louisiana, forced parental involvement laws and the judicial bypass system created significant barriers for a young person to access abortion care. Louisiana law required a young person to obtain written permission from a parent before accessing abortion care, or else navigate the “judicial bypass” process, in which a young person would have to appear before a judge who had the power to approve or deny their decision to end a pregnancy.
Lift Louisiana, in partnership with If/When/How, filed suit in state court in Baton Rouge in 2021, challenging a Louisiana law that would delay or even preclude abortion access for young people by implementing harmful restrictions that limit young people’s access to the court system. Although this lawsuit was initially dismissed, it was pending appeal when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Lift also intervened in a lawsuit filed by a woman in Lafayette to stop her 17-year old daughter from being able to get an abortion through the judicial bypass system. The mother's lawsuit also asked the court to order additional barriers be erected for young people trying to access abortion through this process. Lift moved quickly to connect the young woman to an attorney that was not only able to represent her successfully in her judicial bypass hearing, but also was able to help her become emancipated from her mother. Lift also quickly stepped in to represent the abortion clinics in the mother's case, which was ultimately dismissed.
Litigation Advocacy and Education: Challenging Louisiana's Admitting Privileges Law
On June 29, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring any physician providing abortion services to obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital within 30 miles of where the abortion is performed.
The law was identical to the law that was overturned by the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The law had no medical justification and would have prevented thousands of women in Louisiana from receiving the constitutionally guaranteed care they need. Experts agreed that this law was likely to close most, if not all, clinics in the state.