If abortions would soon be banned state-wide, there needed to be as many protections put into place as possible for reproductive health rights and access. That’s why Lift’s founder Michelle Erenberg approached Morgan Lamandre, CEO of STAR (Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response), with a mission; introduce a bill that would cement the right to emergency contraception for survivors of rape. In Spring of 2022, with the threat of the Dobbs case overturning Roe vs. Wade looming ahead, it was imperative that Lift and other organizations advocating for reproductive rights do everything they can to protect women.

Emergency contraception (or EC) is a form of FDA-approved contraception that can be ingested after fertilization happens in order to prevent pregnancy. These forms of contraception are often a last-resort attempt at preventing pregnancy, especially in states where abortion is now illegal. These pills can be life-changing for survivors of sexual assault, as almost 5% of rapes result in pregnancy according to a 2023 study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. That is why access is vital, and why Lift Louisiana took action to help ensure this access was present in Louisiana. 

Lift Louisiana and STAR’s plan was to propose a bill that would provide all survivors the ability to prevent an unwanted pregnancy by requiring all Louisiana hospitals to carry emergency contraceptives. Hospitals would be required to inform survivors about the options they had,  educate them about emergency contraceptives, and provide them if desired. 

Michelle and Morgan were concerned that a bill like this might face too much pushback to pass because of ultra-conservative politicians who thought of emergency contraception as abortion. To combat this, the majority of the work and concessions made to it were done as pre-legislative work to ensure that they were not fighting an uphill battle while it was progressing through the legislative process. This pre-legislative work involved meeting with the stakeholders in the bill, primarily the hospitals and organizations that the mandate would impact, specifically the Catholic-based hospitals that were expected to respond with the most pushback. This led to the initial draft of the bill being changed quite a bit. Originally, there was supposed to be all FDA approved contraceptives made available in hospitals, but that had to be narrowed to just Plan B. Additionally, there was a compromise made for survivors to have to show proof of a negative pregnancy test before gaining access to contraception, making the bill in accordance with Catholicism as well as appeasing those with the belief that life begins at implantation. 

We knew that legislators on both sides of the aisle understood the importance of supporting survivors of sexual assault and were happy to work with STAR, while Lift Louisiana was more likely to be seen as politically divisive and associated with abortion. To avoid losing out on the bill by name association alone, Michelle and Morgan made the decision to have Morgan and STAR the face of the bill alone. 

Morgan and STAR worked with Representative Jason Hughes to introduce and push forward this bill. He was a representative that STAR had worked with previously on legislation, and was someone that would not back down or compromise the integrity of the bill with resolutions just to get it passed. Hughes, a Democratic representative, also had built respect with the Republicans, and having support from the majority party was imperative. Additionally, being a man, it allowed him to frame the bill in a way that showed it was not only an issue for women, which allowed for the strategic use of biases against those who hold them. 

While this work was occurring in the legislative process, Lift was doing key work in organizing grassroots activism and mobilization. By speaking to the voters directly and encouraging them to support this bill by contacting their Representative and showing up to the capitol, legislators were able to see that this was a bill that people cared a lot about. 

The massive amount of pre-legislative work, the help of Representative Hughes, and the grassroots mobilization created a piece of legislation that was voted to pass unanimously in both the Louisiana House and Senate, and signed by the governor shortly after, becoming Act 513. In rural areas where it is hard to access birth control and emergency contraception, this bill created a lifeline for victims of rape where there has never been one before. Additionally, it mandates that hospitals educate survivors about the possibility of emergency contraception and what it can do, which is absolutely vital to ensure that care is survivor-centered and informs patients about their options. Act 513 and it’s details are all included on the Louisiana Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights, created in 2024, which informs survivors of the autonomy and the choices they have, and helps them receive the justice they deserve. 

Although Lift Louisiana wasn’t publicly involved, Morgan and STAR filled in Michelle during every step as the bill progressed its way through the process, and also consulted Michelle and Lift with every change in the bill. It was an intentional collaboration throughout the process, with STAR being the organization that was the public face, and Lift Louisiana helping work behind the scenes and from the ground up. To this day, this bill and the mission that STAR and Lift put in place is still in effect, and continues to protect the right of emergency contraception to rape survivors across Louisiana. 

This work was made possible in part by funding from the Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, the Tides Stronger Together Fund, and the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity, a donor-advised fund of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.