Photo Credit: Chip somodevilla/Getty images 

On his first day in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order claiming to redefine sex and erase the existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. In its Policy Brief: Impact of The Executive Order Redefining Sex, UCLA Law’s Williams Institute explores the meaning of the order, the areas of federal policy it aims to change, and its potential impact on millions of people across the country. Within a week, the President also issued two more executive orders discriminating against transgender people by aiming to end gender affirming care for teens and children and requiring new policies to ban trans people from military service.

While multiple lawsuits challenge aspects of implementation, these orders are sweeping in scope and, as the legal filings detail, already causing devastating harm to the health, safety, and livelihood of trans and nonbinary people.  The orders also will implicate sex gender equality and reproductive rights for everyone. The “Defending Women From Gender Ideology” order is explicit that the administration seeks to enforce “sex-based distinctions” defined by “biological realities” established at “conception,” and promote laws that define and regulate people based on their “reproductive cell.”  This introduces the concept of fetal personhood – a tool that will be used to further limit, abortion, IVF, and some forms of contraception, and has already been fueling criminalization of pregnant people for their pregnancy outcomes in states with fetal personhood language. The order’s insistence on enforcing so-called “sex based distinctions” based on purported biological differences between men and women signals the desire to also erode swaths of gender discrimination and gender stereotyping law that has protected women, transgender, and non-binary people. Future executive orders, administrative policies, and agency rules will reveal how this plays out, but the language of the executive orders is an early signal as to how this administration will define and regulate people on the basis of sex, pregnancy, and reproductive capacity. 

Health care providers, patients, and support organizations have faced a growing array of new and draconian reproductive health care restrictions since Dobbs.  As they work through the rapidly changing legal landscape – now even more rapidly changing thanks to the new federal administration and the states it’s emboldened –, they face pressing challenges with potentially dire civil and criminal penalties and need access to experts who can help them walk through legal issues and questions for free and without judgment.   

The Southern California Legal Alliance for Reproductive Justice (SoCal LARJ), which is managed by the UCLA Law’s Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy, was created in 2023 to meet this need. SoCal LARJ is a coalition that includes the Center, the Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, and law firms, government agencies, and advocacy organizations.  SoCal LARJ brings together the legal profession to provide pro bono representation to health care providers, patients, advocates, and support organizations on reproductive rights and justice issues.  This week we sat down with Senior Staff Attorney Amanda Barrow, who directs the program, to learn more about the program.

Interviewee:  Amanda Barrow, CRHLP Senior Staff Attorney

Interviewer: Kelsey Padilla, Program & Communication Coordinator

Q: How does SoCal LARJ work, and what kind of assistance can people expect when they reach out? 

A: SoCal LARJ helps connect health care providers, patients, and advocacy and support organizations with legal questions related to reproductive rights and justice issues with skilled pro bono counsel.  If you reach out through email (larj@law.ucla.edu) or our hotline (310-206-4466), you can expect to hear back from one of the Center’s attorneys within 24 hours.  Generally, we meet with clients to learn more about their concerns, assess any potential legal issues, and then work to match them with attorneys within our network with the expertise necessary to address the client’s specific legal issues.  We draw from a network of excellent attorneys that includes legal experts from reproductive rights and justice organizations and attorneys from more than 45 local and national law firms.  We also work with other regional and national reproductive legal and pro bono networks to obtain counsel for clients throughout the country. 

Q: Can you share some of the key impacts SoCal LARJ has had and what it hopes to achieve in the future? 

A: SoCal LARJ has placed over 55 matters with some of the top law firms and legal organizations in the country in the two years since it started.  The attorneys within our network have provided pro bono legal support critical to people providing abortion care to patients across the country, organizations offering information and resources to people seeking health care, and pregnant people and families combatting mistreatment.   

We expect that accessing, supporting, and providing reproductive health care may grow even more difficult in the near future.  Health care providers, patients, and advocacy organizations currently need legal help and may increasingly need support.  We will continue to work to ensure these legal needs are fully met.  As part of that work, we will continue to hold trainings and provide resources for attorneys within our network on new, relevant reproductive rights and justice issues so they’re prepared to jump in quickly to assist clients in the current evolving legal landscape.  

Q: How can law firms, individual lawyers, and advocacy organizations get involved with SoCal LARJ? 

A: We always welcome attorneys interested in providing pro bono legal assistance to protect reproductive rights and advance reproductive justice to join our network! Joining the network does not obligate you to participate in any matter—you’ll just be notified of opportunities to provide pro bono support.  If you’re interested in becoming involved, please fill out this form indicating your capacity to take on new pro bono matters, or feel free to reach out to us directly (larj@law.ucla.edu).   

Watch the Zoom recording of the important conversation we hosted this week:  "Strategies for Increasing Public Awareness of Over-the-Counter and Pharmacist-Prescribed Contraception."  In it you’ll learn lessons of success in OPill OTC access, models for success in direct access to contraception in North Carolina pharmacies, and models we can learn from in the UK. Watch the recording here and read our new policy brief aimed at increasing access to contraception by expanding the role of pharmacists here. 

Please also  register now for the second webinar in this series, Insurance and Medicaid Coverage, Reimbursement, and Billing for Pharmacist-Prescribed Contraception happening on March 3rd at 12 PM PT. 

CRHLP’s Legal and Policy Director Diana Kasdan is featured in a CalMatters article exploring how the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has shifted under the influence of President Trump’s judicial appointments and what this means for reproductive rights. The article highlights the importance of state courts in protecting reproductive rights and the long-term implications of Trump’s judicial legacy, as his appointees will influence the court for decades to come.  

Are you passionate about reproductive health care and reproductive justice? Do you want to explore legal pathways for rebuilding reproductive rights and contribute to meaningful research and policy work? We are seeking applications for summer law fellows for Summer 2025.  
 
Summer fellows will have the opportunity to contribute to our legal and interdisciplinary work, including conducting legal and policy research and analysis, contributing to empirical research, and supporting projects and convenings to help develop new legal theories to protect reproductive rights and justice 

This position is open to rising 2L, 3L, and LLM law students. Please submit a resume, cover letter, and law school transcript to crhlp@law.ucla.edu. Priority consideration will be given to students who apply by February 28, 2025. Funding is available and will be discussed during the interview process. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gtte_vJk 

Photo credit: IAN HOOTON/SPL/Getty Images

NEJM Evidence has published a new study showing that ulipristal acetate, the active ingredient in the emergency contraceptive Ella, could be used at a higher dose as an abortion medication. The study found that a 60-milligram dose of ulipristal acetate, followed by misoprostol 24 hours later, was 97% effective in terminating pregnancies up to nine weeks. This level of effectiveness is the same as the widely used mifepristone-misoprostol option. Experts caution that more research is needed before Ella can be widely adopted for abortion care, and some advocates warn that the findings could lead to further political efforts to restrict contraception access. Lead author Dr. Beverly Winikoff of Gynuity Health Projects emphasized the importance of expanding options as anti-abortion opposition to mifepristone mounts. 

Photo credit: John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit 

New York Governor Hochul has launched the Birth Allowance for Beginning Year (BABY) Benefit, a direct cash assistance program supporting low-income parents during pregnancy and through birth. Funded by the state, the initiative will provide $100 per month throughout pregnancy, followed by a $1,200 payment at birth for New Yorkers receiving public assistance. Families can use the funds for any expenses. By providing direct cash support, the program aims to ease the financial burden of pregnancy and new parenthood, particularly as many parents face increased expenses and temporary income loss while caring for a newborn. 

Photo credit: Google Maps; Vermont Superior Court 

Vermont’s child welfare agency, a counseling center, and a Vermont hospital are all facing a lawsuit over allegations that they colluded to secretly investigate a pregnant woman based on unfounded mental health claims and to unlawfully take custody of her newborn. The lawsuit accuses the Department for Children and Families of operating an illegal surveillance program that tracks and targets pregnant women deemed “high risk.” The complaint details that A.V., the plaintiff, was unaware that state officials, hospital staff, and her own counselors were sharing information about her pregnancy until she gave birth in February 2022 and her baby was immediately taken away. At one point, the state sought a court order to force her to undergo a C-section. It took her seven months to regain custody of her daughter. Plaintiffs raise multiple claims of constitutional rights violations, including under Vermont’s new Reproductive Liberty Amendment, and say the case exposes the dangerous harms of state surveillance over pregnant people. 

Photo credit: Suzannah Hoover/The Washington Post, Photo: Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post) 

The Trump administration has moved to limit prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which protects abortion clinics from obstruction and threats. A Justice Department memo issued last Friday restricts such cases to “extraordinary circumstances” and orders the dismissal of three ongoing prosecutions against anti-abortion activists. Justice Department officials justified the shift as an effort to end the “weaponization” of law enforcement, claiming past FACE Act prosecutions disproportionately targeted anti-abortion activists while failing to address attacks on clinics and reproductive health centers. Critics argue the policy rollback effectively greenlights violence and intimidation against abortion providers. 

With so much going on in the world of reproductive health, law, and policy, every week we'll share articles, books, and media you might have missed. 

Trump Reinstated the Global Gag Rule. Here’s What’s at Stake. 

Mental health care for new moms is critical. And hard to access. 

‘We’ve Got to Stop This’: Doctors Sound Alarm as Miscarrying Women Die Under Texas Abortion Ban 

Access to abortion medication could be in jeopardy, RFK Jr. testimony suggests 

Why obstetricians find the term ‘elective’ highly misleading in bills limiting abortion access 

Reimagining the future of reproductive health, law, and policy.

UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy is a think tank and research center created to develop long-term, lasting solutions that advance all aspects of reproductive justice, and address the current national crisis of abortion access.