Reproductive Justice and Supporting Families

We have been involved in many consequential recent matters involving reproductive choice, access to family planning, and supporting families.

Access to Abortion and Reproductive Healthcare

Paul, Weiss has long been at the forefront of protecting abortion access. Among other high-profile representations:

• In a series of district and circuit court cases that spanned over a decade, we represented the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi and Missouri respectively, successfully challenging those state’s multiple attempts to enact laws that would ban abortions prior to viability.
• As co-counsel with the Center for Reproductive Rights, we represented the Jackson Women’s Health Organization before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Supreme Court in that case upheld Mississippi’s pre-viability abortion ban, reversing the Fifth Circuit and overturning Roe, Casey, and nearly 50 years of precedent in the first ever decision eliminating a previously recognized individual Constitutional right.
• In the aftermath of Dobbs and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we have led the New York Attorney General’s Reproductive Health Taskforce, a coalition of reproductive rights groups, law firms, and bar associations convened by the Attorney General to ensure that healthcare providers, abortion funds, and individuals understand and can avail themselves of their rights relating to reproductive choice.
• We have also played a key role in providing pro bono legal support for the Abortion Defense Network, which launched in February 2023 to connect those facing legal threats related to abortion care with trusted attorneys who provide legal advice and potential representation in civil and criminal proceedings. The program is managed by six leading reproductive rights organizations: the Lawyering Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Reproductive Rights, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, the National Women’s Law Center and Resources for Abortion Delivery, in collaboration with state and regional public interest organizations, private law firms and public agencies committed to safeguarding abortion access.
• We are counseling numerous healthcare providers and abortion funds, providing advice on a host of critical issues stemming from the Dobbs decision and state laws, so that they may continue to provide broad access to abortion services.
• We also assist international organizations focused on family planning, access to contraception and reproductive health products and services in the developing world with corporate structuring and complying with local regulations and reporting obligations.

Supporting Families

Paul, Weiss has consistently supported keeping families together.

• In February 2024, Paul, Weiss and co-counsel the Family Justice Law Center of the Urban Justice Center, the NYU School of Law Family Defense Clinic and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York against the City of New York for violating the Fourth Amendment during the tens of thousands of home searches the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) conducts every year. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of nine named plaintiffs who represent the countless parents and caretakers whose constitutional rights are repeatedly violated when ACS employs coercive tactics to conduct invasive, warrantless home searches and strip searches of their children. These tactics include lying to parents about their rights, threatening to call the police, and even threatening to take the parents’ children away if the ACS caseworkers are not permitted to enter and search the home. In over 99.5% of cases, ACS conducts these home searches without a court order, even though only a minuscule percentage of ACS investigations result in determinations that the children need protection. The lawsuit aims to curb ACS’ unconstitutional practice and to protect tens of thousands of New York City families from these unlawful and traumatic searches in the future.
• In November 2024, in a typical individual family defense case, Paul, Weiss and the NYU Family Defense Clinic secured a victory for a pro bono client when the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department reversed an order of the Kings County Family Court that had terminated her parental rights following fact-finding and dispositional hearings at which she was not represented by counsel. The appeals court remanded the case for fact finding.