Reproductive Health Legal Assistance Project: Initial Research Instructions

Patients need care, and clinicians both want and are obligated to serve them. However, post-Dobbs, clinicians are seeking immediate legal guidance before they make decisions about provision of care. With state and local laws changing rapidly, ongoing legal guidance is essential.

Partnering with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) is mobilizing attorneys to provide legal guidance to front-line reproductive health care providers. Clinicians are forced to make heavily-regulated decisions regarding individual patients’ essential health care while trying to be mindful of statutes and cases that are in near-constant flux. They need up-to-date legal guidance that is as clear as possible, to help them understand the shifting landscape in light of the Dobbs decision and multiplying state-level restrictions on abortion and other necessary medical care.

This project will develop a database tracking the legal environment relating to reproductive healthcare restrictions and protections in every state and territory in the country. The database will be a shared resource, accessible online by approved partners (including law firms participating in this project, reproductive rights organizations, healthcare providers, and others).

Instructions for Participating Attorneys

Please complete each of the following steps by the end of day Thursday, August 19.

STEP 1: RESEARCH & DRAFT ANSWERS TO STATE-LEVEL LEGAL QUESTIONS

  • Keep your notes and draft responses to the questions in a Word document

  • As you are researching and drafting your responses, you will find and cite to authoritative sources such as case law, statutes, regulations or administrative rules, executive orders, policies and informal guidances, proposed regulations, bills, and even statements by top state law enforcement officials such as a governors or attorneys general. Collectively, we will refer to those authoritative sources as “Citations” or “Authorities.”

  • For each Citation you identify during your research, keep track of the following information in your Word document:

    • Bluebook citation

    • Public website URL where the source material can be viewed online (a free site, such as Justia or a state legislative site, rather than a paid subscription site like Westlaw or Lexis) 

    • Type of Citation (constitutional provision, case law, statute, and so forth)

STEP 2: RESEARCH & DRAFT ANSWERS TO citation-LEVEL LEGAL QUESTIONS

STEP 3: FILL OUT “FORM A - CITATIONS TO AUTHORITIES” FOR EACH CITATION YOU CITE IN YOUR RESEARCH

Please DO NOT begin this step until your team has completed all of the research described in Steps 1 & 2 above. 

  • When ready (after you have already drafted answers to the questions in your Word document) use this link to fill out the online form “Form A: Citations to Authorities” for each of the citations you cite in your research. The questions that will be asked for each of the citations is available below in the section entitled “Form A: Citations to Authorities”.

  • NOTE: The order in which you enter these citations is important. Please enter these citations to authorities in the following order:

    • (1) first, enter any relevant state constitutional provisions,

    • (2) then statutes,

    • (3) then case law, and

    • (4) then other authorities. 

  • The case law entries will request that you tag which constitutional provisions and statutes are cited in the holding, so the constitutional provisions and statutes MUST be entered first.

  • When each and every citation you rely upon in your analyses is added, continue to Step 4.

STEP 4: FILL OUT “FORM B - STATE LEVEL LEGAL QUESTIONS”

Please DO NOT begin this step until your team has completed all of the research described in Steps 1 & 2 above AND filled out “Form A: Citations to Authorities” for each and every citation you rely upon in your analyses.

Tools:

  • Your Westlaw or Lexis account. You will need to use their Keycite or flag tools to ensure the authorities cited remain good law.

  • Secondary sources that may help you with this research include: 

  • IMPORTANT NOTE RE: SECONDARY SOURCES: If you use secondary sources for your research, you must independently confirm that any information upon which you are relying is up to date.

Thank you for contributing to this important project. If you have any questions, please email us at probono@L4GG.org.