As a new administration is sworn into office this month in Washington D.C., many organizations, communities, and individuals are wondering how their rights and lives will be impacted. Over the past 18 years CAASE has been operating, we have seen a huge variety of changes, challenges, and wins in our work and the evolving landscape of our country and policies at the federal level. One thing remains steadfast—our mission to address the culture, institutions, and individuals that perpetrate, profit from, or support sexual exploitation.

We will continue to fight for abortion access, safety for survivors in schools, and LGBTQ+ rights. We will continue to focus on those most impacted by sexual harm, including people of color, but in particular Black women and girls, those with disabilities, those who are immigrants and/or undocumented, and more. We know our compassionate community will keep taking care of one another. Here are some of the policies we’re monitoring as the federal landscape shifts:

1. Title IX protections for student survivors and LGBTQ+ students

After experiencing sexual harassment or assault, student survivors often face challenges in academic and campus life. They may need support to feel safe and continue their education. CAASE has long been a leader in Illinois in offering legal services for student survivors and in passing statewide legislation to create more rights and protections for them in school. This work will be needed more than ever as Title IX protections have come under attack in recent years, and we anticipate these attacks will continue.

For example, a federal judge in Kentucky overturned the Biden Administration Title IX rule across the country this month to undo the anti-discrimination protections for transgender students at school. This past summer, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block the Biden Administration Title IX rule.

Here in Illinois, CAASE has been instrumental in passing two laws to help students at the state level: the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, and the Ensuring Success in School Law. Both laws create guidelines for how K-12 and colleges in Illinois handle sexual assault cases, what accommodations student survivors are entitled to, and more. Promoting these laws and ensuring survivors across Illinois are aware of their rights remains critical when Title IX at the federal level is in flux. We also plan to continue supporting partners like the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and others as they advocate for a stronger nationwide response to student survivors.

2. Reproductive rights

CAASE supports public policy that gives people autonomy, safety, choice, and care as it relates to pregnancy and reproductive health and safety. While ensuring access to abortion care is critical, reproductive rights go far beyond the ability to make choices about pregnancy: Any conversation about reproductive rights must also include legislation that recognizes the effects of intimate partner violence on survivors’ health, protects incarcerated individuals, and so much more.

But abortion access has been under attack with more states limiting access to abortion. Some federal lawmakers have supported a ban on abortion at the national level. Right now, Illinois has been labeled a “safe haven” for abortion care, with more pregnant people from out of state coming to Illinois for care as other states passed bans on abortion. While Illinois’s laws remain on the books, these protections put into place to ensure abortion care would likely be impacted with a national ban or other restrictions on abortion.

CAASE has been a critical fighter in creating these protections in Illinois and will continue to intervene in the fight for abortion access statewide and nationwide. Abortion care and autonomy and self-determination for

3. Immigration

Immigrants and those who are undocumented are disproportionately likely to experience sexual harm, including sexual assault and sex trafficking, and are less likely to report the harm against them because of fear of deportation or other legal threats. This happens because the power dynamics that come into play: Perpetrators hold power over their victims if they can threaten to report the victim to immigration authorities or try to get them deported, among other circumstances like language access and cultural differences. This dynamic will only increase as the new federal administration proposes changes to increase deportation of immigrants, eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and more.  

While CAASE does not handle immigration legal cases, we do offer free legal services to survivors of sexual harm and trafficking, which includes survivors who may be undocumented. Because of the disproportionate impact that immigrant survivors can experience, we have advocated for policies that support immigrants who are victims of crime and work to create community safety, like the VOICES Act. We will continue this advocacy over the coming years as attacks on legal immigration and undocumented people will likely continue. 

4. Racial justice

Racial justice and intersectionality remain at the center of our mission and work here at CAASE. Because of the disproportionate harm that BIPOC survivors – especially Black women and girls – experience, we must center their experiences in our work to create the greatest change and best support all survivors.  

While there is a changing landscape at the federal level, with the elimination of affirmative action at colleges, the undoing of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming in business and government; and the increasing antagonism towards the Black Lives Matters movement, CAASE’s commitment to this work will continue in the face of this shift because our mission in support of survivors demands it. 

CAASE recently released a report to center the voices of Black women who are survivors of the sex trade, “We’re Listening: What Black Survivors Say About the Sex Trade.” This report explores what Black women survivors of trafficking and prostitution in the U.S. say about the sex trade and the Survivor Model. 

We also will continue to be advocates for the new Pretrial Fairness Act, which ended the use of money bond in pretrial decisions in our criminal legal system. The Pretrial Fairness Act assists survivors in the criminal legal process, prioritizes public safety over wealth, and has been championed by a broad coalition of supporters across Cook County and Illinois as the right policy to further racial justice and criminal legal reform work. At CAASE, we firmly believe that criminal justice reform, racial justice and improving our community responses to gender-based violence are mutually supportive, not conflicting, goals. 

---

Contact CAASE to learn more about legal services. We provide free legal services for survivors of sexual assault, sexual stalking, and sex trafficking with any background or identity who were harmed in Cook County, IL, and are aged 13+. To learn more about our free legal services or schedule a consultation, please call our legal intake line at 773-244-2230, ext. 205 or email legal@caase.org. We’re available 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday. All personal information will be kept confidential. Please allow up to 72 hours for responses.   

Our Legal Staff speaks Spanish and Portuguese. Translation services are also available in all languages. Learn more about CAASE’s legal services. 

CAASE published this piece on January 13, 2025. It was authored by Madeleine Behr, with input and editing by Lizzy Springer. Learn more about our staff here.