Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblywoman MILA M. JASEY
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
Assemblyman RAJ MUKHERJI
District 33 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman ANNETTE CHAPARRO
District 33 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
District 11 (Monmouth)
Assemblywoman ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Lopez, Assemblymen Conaway, Zwicker, Verrelli, Danielsen, Assemblywoman Timberlake, Assemblymen Benson, Spearman, Mazzeo, Assemblywomen Speight, Sumter, Assemblymen Johnson and Freiman
SYNOPSIS
Reproductive Freedom Act.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning reproductive rights and autonomy, and supplementing, amending, and repealing various parts of the statutory law.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Reproductive Freedom Act.
2. (New section) a. The Legislature finds that:
(1) Access to safe and legal abortion care is essential to women s health, autonomy, and privacy and is central to the ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the United States and the State of New Jersey.
(2) Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed in the United States. In March 2018, experts at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine published a study confirming that scientific evidence consistently indicates that legal abortions in the United States are extremely safe.
(3) Legal abortion is a necessary component of reproductive health care, and the Legislature is committed to ensuring that all individuals in the State have proper access to abortion care. However, the enactment of legislation that merely recognizes the legality of abortion is not sufficient to ensure that abortion care will be provided as a central component of reproductive health care in New Jersey; rather, due to controversies surrounding abortion rights in the State and nation, the Legislature must take affirmative steps to ensure that the ability of individuals to access legal abortion services in the State is not unnecessarily restricted.
(4) Access to comprehensive reproductive health care before, during, and after giving birth, including access to contraception, abortion, and prenatal and postnatal care, must be provided to all persons, irrespective of sex designation or gender identity, including to transgender and non-binary individuals.
(5) Pregnant individuals should be able to make their own health care decisions throughout the course of their pregnancy, with the advice of health care professionals they trust and without government interference or fear of prosecution.
(6) Harmful consequences result from unnecessary health regulations that single out abortion providers or individuals who seek abortion services without conferring any health benefit or increasing the safety of abortion. Such medically unnecessary regulations effectively reduce the number of abortion providers, diminish the availability of legal abortion services, and create harmful barriers and delays to care without providing any benefit to patients.
(7) The Commissioner of Human Services and the State Board of Medical Examiners have adopted rules and regulations, codified, respectively, in chapters 54 and 66 of Title 10 and chapter 35 of Title 13 of the New Jersey Administrative Code, which target abortion providers with medically unnecessary regulation, thereby conflicting with the purposes of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
(8) Restrictions placed on abortion services also often have a disparate impact that is predominantly felt by persons who already experience barriers to health care, including young women, women of color, women with disabilities, women with a low-income, women who live in rural areas, immigrants, and transgender and non-binary individuals. Persons of color, in particular, experience disparities across a wide range of reproductive health outcomes, including in the areas of infant and maternal mortality, unintended pregnancies, and access to preventive care. In light of this country s history of discrimination, which includes shameful incidents of forced sterilization against women of color and persons with disabilities, it is imperative for New Jersey to ensure that all individuals, going forward, including, but not limited to, individuals who are incarcerated, are living in government-funded institutions, or are otherwise under governmental control or supervision, have true reproductive choice and individual autonomy with respect to reproductive decision-making, have sufficient access to reproductive care and accurate information on reproductive issues, including abortion, and are able to access the full range of reproductive services free from discrimination and unnecessary barriers to care.
(9) Given the historic and continued attacks on abortion access at the federal level and in many of New Jersey s sister states, it is critical that New Jersey take legislative action to ensure that its residents and those who come to this State are able to exercise the fundamental rights to choose to use or refuse contraception or sterilization, to carry a pregnancy, to give birth, or to have an abortion, regardless of where they are domiciled.
(10) The New Jersey Supreme Court has held, in cases such as Right to Choose v. Byrne, 91 N.J. 287 (1982), and Planned Parenthood of Cent. N.J. v. Farmer, 165 N.J. 609 (2000), that Article I, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution protects the right to abortion and reproductive autonomy to an extent that exceeds the protections established under the United States Constitution. Consequently, this State has historically provided stronger protections for reproductive rights and autonomy than are provided by other states and the federal government.
b. The Legislature, therefore, declares that it is both reasonable and necessary for the State to enable, facilitate, support, and safeguard the provision of high quality, comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care, including the full range