Policy Over Politics with STAR
A web series on legislative advocacy for sexual assault survivors across Louisiana
Welcome to Policy Over Politics, a web series created by Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response (STAR).
STAR is a nonprofit sexual assault center in Louisiana. We envision a world free from oppression and sexual trauma. Through our work with survivors, STAR was inspired to educate and inform lawmakers about survivor experiences with the goal of bringing about systemic change.
Since 2014, STAR has worked closely with legislators to improve the rights and protections of sexual trauma survivors and implement prevention initiatives throughout the state of Louisiana.
A few of our major policy wins over the years include:
1. Ensuring no sexual assault survivor ever receives a bill for a forensic medical exam
In 2015, we worked with Representative Helena Moreno, Senator JP Morrell, and several stakeholders to end the practice of billing survivors who received forensic medical exams (FMEs) after a sexual assault.
A federal law passed in 2005 prohibited the practice of billing survivors for post-assault FMEs — and states had until 2009 to comply. Yet, up until 2015 Louisiana survivors across Louisiana were still receiving bills for FMEs that were sometimes thousands of dollars. In other words, survivors continued to be financially responsible for collecting evidence that was left on their bodies.
With STAR’s help on this legislation in 2015, Louisiana found itself functioning in compliance with Federal Law. And, more importantly, survivors in Louisiana were no longer put in the position to pay for a crime committed against them.
2. Ensuring access to protection orders for non-intimate partner sexual assault survivors
Again in 2015, we worked with Senator JP Morrell to introduce a bill that would allow non-intimate partner sexual assault survivors to have access to an expedited protection order.
Prior to 2015, there were protection orders for domestic and dating violence and non-intimate partner stalking. However, there was no similar protection order for sexual assault survivors who were not in intimate relationships with their perpetrators. Passing this bill allowed survivors to have access to these expedited orders, which would then go to the statewide repository for protection orders.
3. Parental right termination of rapists when a child is conceived through rape.
In 2016, STAR introduced legislation that would directly allow sexual assault survivors who became pregnant as a result of rape to terminate the parental rights of the rapist.
While some survivors may opt to terminate their pregnancies resulting from rape, there are many survivors who want to continue their pregnancies, give birth and raise their child, but without contact or the requirement to co-parent with their rapists.
As a result of passing this legislation, survivors in Louisiana could petition a court to terminate the parental rights of the person that raped them irrespective of criminal charges. With this legislation, Louisiana is also qualified to receive Federal funds through the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act.
4. Eliminating the prescriptive period (statute of limitations) for civil claims for child sexual abuse
In 2021, STAR worked with survivors and stakeholders to advocate for the passage of a bill that would completely eliminate the prescriptive period to file a civil lawsuit against people responsible for child sexual abuse.
Previously, the time period was only 10 years from the time an individual turned 18. This meant that survivors could not file a lawsuit after they turned 28. On average, most survivors do not disclose they are a survivor of child sexual abuse until they are in their 50s, which makes the pursuit of justice in the civil system impossible.
This bill completely eliminated the prescriptive period for civil suits moving forward and it also allowed a look-back period for claims that were previously barred.
5. Providing early residential lease termination for sexual assault survivors
In 2021, STAR worked with Representative Aimee Freeman to bring a bill to allow early lease termination for sexual assault survivors. Louisiana already had a law on the books for domestic violence survivors, but it did not apply to survivors of sexual assault.
Statistics show that the majority of sexual assaults occur at or near the survivor’s home. When a survivor is then not allowed to break their leases without financial consequences, they are forced to relive their trauma over and over again since they continue to be in the space where the sexual assault occurred.
By terminating their leases early without a financial penalty, survivors are able to find a new place to live where they can be emotionally and physically safe without going into debt.
Through our new web series — POP with STAR — we invite you to learn more about STAR’s important legislative advocacy work and meet the people creating change across Louisiana.
We also hope to educate viewers on STAR’s policy initiatives so that they can be informed and help us to engage with lawmakers to ensure these very important policies receive the support they need to become law.
