Pro-abortion lawmakers in New Jersey pushed forward with a radical bill Thursday that establishes a so-called “right” to abort an unborn baby and forces health insurance plans to cover elective abortions.
Spot On New Jersey reports committees in the state Senate and Assembly both passed a “pared-down” version of a pro-abortion bill that has stalled in the state legislature for years, Senate Bill 3030.
NJ Advance Media described the bill as “hastily drafted” and the votes in both committees as happening “late” Thursday after negotiations with Gov. Phil Murphy, a pro-abortion Democrat. The legislation now moves to the full legislative bodies for a final vote.
Speaking before the vote, Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, asked the state Assembly Appropriations Committee why lawmakers want to expand abortions when New Jersey already has the highest abortion rate in the U.S., according to the report.
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“Why do we want to have more?” Tasy asked, pointing to the nearly 50,000 abortions that occur in the state every year. This is a “really radical bill,” she said.
The legislation would “codify” the so-called right to abort an unborn baby for basically any reason in New Jersey. It also would give the Murphy administration authority to force state health insurance plans to cover elective abortions without cost to the patient, the local news reports.
According to New Jersey Right to Life, the original bill would invalidate all current and future laws that restrict abortions and allow nurse practitioners and midwives to abort unborn babies. The pro-life organization warned that the legislation also would get rid of the 1974 state conscience clause that protects pro-life medical workers from being forced to help abort unborn babies.
New Jersey Right to Life pointed to a recent USA Today editorial by the governor and Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver in which they admit the bill “expressly allows late term abortions” and keeps parents from being informed if their underage daughter has an abortion.
“They don’t care that the people of NJ don’t support such an extreme edict!” the pro-life organization responded.
According to NJ Advance Media, several Republicans tried to amend the bill Thursday in committee to include parental consent for minors but Democrats blocked the action.
However, even a few Democrats expressed hesitancy about supporting the radical pro-abortion legislation.
Here’s more from the report:
There is some suspense around what will happen at the voting sessions Monday. Some lawmakers who voted yes to release the bill from committee said they didn’t know if they could support it in the final vote.
“I am very torn with this topic,” Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera, D-Gloucester, said. “I believe in a woman’s life to choose. And I choose life. I am Democrat, and I believe life starts at conception. But it is not about what I believe in.”
State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, the lead sponsor of the bill, portrayed it as a matter of women’s health care.
“There was a lot of give and take on this issue in the last week,” Weinberg said. “But there was never a question that we were not going to protect all the rights that women have today to make their own reproductive choices.”
New Jersey already has the highest abortion rate in the country and some of the most permissive pro-abortion laws.
Through a new coalition, Working Together for NJ, pro-lifers in the state have been working hard to stop the radical pro-abortion expansion, warning that it could lead to more human trafficking as well as more abortions.
It’s “a human trafficker’s best friend. Sex slaves get pregnant. Human traffickers have to pay for the abortions as a result. But this legislation will require all New Jersey taxpayers to pay for the abortions of sex trafficking victims,” said the Rev. Gregory Quinlan of Center for Garden State Families, last year.
Polls consistently show that most Americans oppose late-term abortions and taxpayer-funded abortions. A 2020 Gallup poll found that 55 percent of Americans think all or almost all abortions should be illegal, while just 29 percent think abortions should be legal under any circumstances.
ACTION ALERT: Contact New Jersey state lawmakers and urge them to oppose this pro-abortion legislation.
