Around the end of September, staff answering the phones at 39 19, France’s main anonymous hotline for women victims of violence, noticed a novel case.

“The caller believes she was drugged and possibly raped. “She had suspicions a few months ago and all the information surrounding the Mazan trial helped her put the pieces together,” an employee explained in a report on one of several calls seen by Reuters.

The trial in which Dominique Pelicot admitted drugging his wife Gisèle and recruiting dozens of men online to rape her while she was unconscious for nearly a decade is nearing its end. Dozens of verdicts are expected on Thursday.

The mass rape trial has shocked France and its impact will be felt far beyond the Avignon courthouse, where judges have heard and seen evidence for more than three months. Gisèle Pelicot, 72, has become a feminist hero at home and abroad because she renounces her right to anonymity and defends herself in court against her abusers.

There are also signs that the case has led to changing social and medical practices in France regarding drug-facilitated sexual assault, according to 10 doctors, social workers and activists Reuters spoke to.

Women’s rights group Solidarité Femmes, which runs the 39 19 hotline, said it had noticed a significant increase in women reporting suspected cases of “chemical submission” – the act of drugging someone for criminal purposes without their consent – as well as sexual violence couple reported within a year.

“Women call us and cite the process and say it reflects their experiences,” Mine Gunbay, the organization’s director, told Reuters.

In order to better answer these callers’ new questions, Solidarite Femmes organized a training session for its telephone advisors at the beginning of December.

Lucie, who refused to reveal her full name because 39 19 employees regularly received threats, attended the training in Paris. Among other things, she said she learned that most drug-induced assaults occur at home, not in bars.

She also learned about the legal and medical resources available to help alleged victims. Two days later, she was able to use her new knowledge to point a caller in the right direction.

The Pelicot trial has also sparked thought among some physicians as doctors seek to deepen their understanding of chemical submissions.

Doctors were unable to identify years of drug use and sexual assault against Gisèle Pelicot. She was tested for Alzheimer’s and brain tumors to find out the cause of the mysterious fainting spells she suffered at her home in the southeastern village of Mazan.

Leila Chaouachi, a pharmacist who founded CRAFS, a center that opened this year to educate medical personnel and potential victims about the issue of drug-assisted assaults, said that after the Pelicot case, doctors and nurses were eager to share their knowledge to improve .

“We are inundated with training requests from all over the country,” Chaouachi said. Training includes understanding what symptoms of a drug-induced assault may look like and how to collect evidence of drug use when possible.

In late November, the government announced measures to ensure potential victims have greater access to testing for the presence of drugs in their bodies. This was driven in part by the advocacy of Gisèle Pelicot’s daughter through M’Endors Pas (“Don’t Let Me Be Put to Sleep”). a group she started last year to raise awareness of drug-related assaults.

The 2025 budget proposal included an amendment to create a pilot program offering free blood tests to those suspected of being drugged and assaulted. However, the law was not passed amid the political unrest that led to the downfall of former Prime Minister Michel Barnier earlier this month.

The proposal will now have to wait for new talks on the 2025 budget, expected to begin in January. But measures already taken are evidence of the impact of the Pelicot case on France’s attitude to drug-sponsored attacks, said Christine Louis-Vahdat, a representative of the French medical association.

“Without the process, it probably would have taken a lot longer to get funding,” she said.

Louis-Vahdat said the proposed measure, which could be expanded in the future, is a crucial step in ensuring doctors have the tools to detect cases of drug-assisted assault.

“The study highlighted physicians’ lack of tools,” she said.

The case has also inspired academic research. Doctors at Geneva University Hospitals recently integrated chemical submissions into an ongoing study of sexual abuse cases after receiving requests for data from reporters covering the trial.

“This process will, I hope, be a point of no return,” Chaouachi said.