New Jersey governor signs bills protecting out-of-state abortion seekers and reproductive health care providers
By Kiely Westhoff, Samantha Beech and Shawna Mizelle, CNN
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed two bills into law that protect out-of-state residents seeking reproductive services and reproductive health care providers.
The bills, A3974 and A3975, shield health care providers from other state’s inquiries and prohibit the extradition of any person who comes to New Jersey seeking legal abortion services. The measures will “explicitly protect the rights of out of state women to an abortion in New Jersey,” Murphy, a Democrat, said at a news conference on Friday.
“To those states who are outright hostile toward a woman’s right to an abortion, and who’ll attempt to use the SCOTUS’ egregious ruling to prosecute a woman for having the audacity to practice autonomy over her body, we say, ‘No way,’ ” the governor said.
Murphy’s comments underscore the current playing field across the US as states respond to the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. For the most part, Democratic-led states have pushed to protect reproductive rights and GOP-led states have pushed for greater restrictions.
The governor previously made clear that abortion access would remain in place for those in New Jersey, as well as the “full range of reproductive services they deserve as a matter of right.” He said last week that the high court ruling “clarified, in no uncertain terms, that they do not value the women in our country or their ability to make their own decisions about their bodies.”
“This decision, while in no way surprising — it is, after all, what we were warned it would be — is still no less infuriating and disappointing,” Murphy said at the time.
In January, the New Jersey state legislature passed the Reproductive Health Act, codifying state law to protect abortion rights in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling.
New Jersey’s 2023 budget also provides more than $50 million for a major reproductive health package, which will increase funds for Family Planning Services, and include new programs for Family Planning Facilities Upgrades, a Reproductive Health Care Provider Clinical Training Program and the Reproductive Health Security Grant Program, according to the governor’s office.
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