Legal Help
The legal landscape around reproductive health, rights, and justice is rapidly changing and can be confusing and overwhelming. We are working to connect people in Louisiana to the resources they need to understand their rights and navigate difficult legal situations.
Patients and Pregnant Persons
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Legal Questions
If you have questions about the current status of abortion laws in Louisiana, abortion access out of state, or self managed abortion, please see our FAQ on abortion.
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Legal Assistance
If you are being criminalized for the outcome of a pregnancy or for seeking an abortion, whether under Louisiana’s criminal abortion law or any other law, please contact If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline.
This includes people who are being questioned by police, arrested, or investigated for self managed abortion or pregnancy loss
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Your Rights
If you must interact with law enforcement for any reason, do so extremely cautiously and whenever possible, do not engage without a lawyer present. Know your rights when being stopped, searched, or arrested in Louisiana.
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Legal Financial Assistance
If you are experiencing financial difficulty due to being investigated, arrested, or prosecuted for ending your own pregnancy, you can contact the Repro Legal Defense Fund to access funding for related expenses, including bail and bond, attorney’s fees, expert witnesses, and court costs.
Medical Providers
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Compliance
If you are a medical professional with questions about how Louisiana’s criminal abortion ban may affect your work, how to best comply with the law, or if you are being criminalized for providing pregnancy related care to your patients, please contact the Abortion Defense Network.
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Emergency Contraception
Louisiana law requires that all licensed hospitals and medical providers provide sexual assault survivors information about and access to emergency contraceptives. If you work at a hospital that is failing to comply with this law, please notify us.
Supporters
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Legal Assistance
If you need legal assistance because you provide informational, financial or practical help to abortion patients or people choosing to end their own pregnancy, please contact the Abortion Defense Network.
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Legal Questions
For more information about the current legal landscape in Louisiana as it relates to supporting others seeking abortion care out of state, via telemedicine, or self-managing, please see our FAQs on abortion.
For Members of the LGBTQ Community
LGBTQ people experience discrimination and legal difficulties across a range of situations, and a variety of free resources are available to help navigate these situations.
Louisiana’s ban on transgender healthcare for trans and gender expansive youth will go into effect on January 1st, 2024.
Legal Resources
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Lambda provides general legal information and resources relating to discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and HIV status. Learn More.
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TLC provides basic information about laws and policies in the United States that affect transgender people across many areas, including employment, health care, housing, civil rights, immigration, prisoners’ rights, and identity document changes. Learn More.
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NCLR can provide information on custody disputes, second parent adoption, separation or divorce, immigration and asylum, as well as other miscellaneous legal issues. Learn More.
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Glad provides confidential information, resources and attorney referrals. Learn More.
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If you need help changing the name and/or gender marker on your driver’s license, state ID, birth certificate, passport, or other official document, please see these resources from Louisiana Trans Advocates and the Real Name Campaign.
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If you are concerned about how the Dobbs decision may impact LGBTQ+ families, including how to formally establish and protect your legal rights as a couple, please see this resource.
DISCLAIMER
Please note that Lift Louisiana cannot provide legal advice, and contacting Lift regarding your personal situation does not establish an attorney-client relationship. We will do our best to give you information and resources about the current state of the law, and may be able to connect you with outside legal counsel in limited circumstances.
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