After the fall of Roe v. Wade, Lara Stemple founded the Southern California Legal Alliance for Reproductive Justice (SoCal LARJ) under the auspices of UCLA Law’s Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy. SoCal LARJ is a pro bono legal network that helps connect healthcare providers, patients, and advocacy organizations advancing reproductive rights and justice with skilled legal counsel. It secures free representation on a wide range of legal topics including: civil and criminal matters affecting access to abortion and reproductive healthcare, risk assessment, compliance with healthcare laws and regulations, business and contract law, employment law, and more.
The founding Steering Committee comprised officials from the Office of the Attorney General of the State of California, the Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles. These groups, together with a range of agencies and advocacy organizations, sought to address an array of draconian restrictions following the end of Roe. These restrictions carry civil and criminal penalties, creating new and urgent legal uncertainties. In response, 52 law firms, including some of the largest in the nation, agreed to provide pro bono services as part of the network.
Lara Stemple SoCal LARJ launch event
To date, more than 80 matters have been addressed by SoCal LARJ, which is coordinated by CRHLP Senior Staff Attorney Amanda Barrow. Over 100 attorneys have helped a wide variety of clients, including: a hospital that trains medical residents from anti-abortion states, a client criminally investigated for pregnancy loss, an organization providing funding to abortion seekers throughout the country, a medication abortion provider threatened with criminal and civil penalties, patients denied access to emergency abortion care, and pharmacies providing medication abortion under state shield laws. By proactively directing pro bono help to providers and advocates, SoCal LARJ has freed up monies groups previously spent on legal fees, enabling them to redirect needed funds to the provision of reproductive healthcare services and advocacy. And in multiple instances, law firms stopped charging provider clients upon learning that SoCal LARJ had secured free legal help from similar firms.
In addition, SoCal LARJ has obtained pro bono counsel in cases that could lead to wider precedent-setting impacts benefitting the entire country. It has likewise secured representation for amicus briefs in key court cases; CRHLP attorneys themselves represented over 300 reproductive health researchers to attest to the safety and effectiveness of mifepristone to the U.S. Supreme Court. In these ways SoCal LARJ continues to direct powerful legal resources toward the defense and advancement of reproductive freedom.