Bill To Protect, Expand Reproductive Healthcare Advances In NJ

NEW JERSEY - Governor Phil Murphy said Friday that lawmakers will introduce the Reproductive Freedom Act, proactive legislation that will help protect and expand New Jerseyans’ ability to receive reproductive health care, such as birth control, and pregnancy-related care, including abortion.

“As access to health care and the right to choose are under attack at the federal level, we will support, defend, and protect reproductive rights here in New Jersey,” Murphy said “The Reproductive Freedom Act will remove barriers to reproductive health, as well as expand access to contraception while reaffirming choice. Together, we stand unwavering in our commitment to work towards reproductive freedom for all New Jerseyans.”

The Reproductive Freedom Act protects and expands access to essential reproductive health care services in three key ways:

The Reproductive Freedom Act explicitly ensures all New Jerseyans have the right to make their own personal health decisions when it comes to birth control and pregnancy-related care, including abortion. The decision about whether and when to become a parent is one of the most important life decisions we make. We need to trust all people who can become pregnant to make decisions about their own health and lives.

The Reproductive Freedom Act makes certain that financial barriers do not prevent anyone from making their own personal health decisions when it comes to birth control and pregnancy-related care, including abortion. Key provisions of the bill require private insurance coverage for birth control and abortion care with no out-of-pocket costs, to ensure that a person’s income or insurance status do not dictate their ability to access time-sensitive health care.

The Reproductive Freedom Act expands access to birth control and pregnancy-related care including abortion by breaking down medically-unnecessary restrictions that right now only serve to block access to care. It is time to secure a future that safeguards reproductive care, upholds basic rights and justice, and respects decision-making throughout pregnancy.

“Women have to stay vigilant in the fight to keep every single right we have earned - even the rights and protections that have been upheld for decades,” said Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, who serves as Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs. “A lot is at stake, but we are not new to this fight and we cannot stand by as our reproductive rights are chipped away - especially in our underserved communities. Today, I throw my full support behind the Reproductive Freedom Act because it will help protect and expand the laws that ensure everyone in our State has the ability to access preventative healthcare and make personal health care decisions.”

President of New Jersey Policy Perspective Brandon McKoy noted that New Jersey has a strong record of advancing reproductive health care policy, but programs that serve low-income people, especially women of color, have chronically been vulnerable to funding cuts.

"A policy choice that exasperates health care gaps and disparities and upholds the systemic oppression of historically marginalized groups,” said McKoy. “The Reproductive Freedom Act seeks to ensure that all people who can become pregnant, regardless of their circumstance, have control over their reproductive health decisions—and by extension their economic status—by removing unnecessary or outdated barriers to health care and providing adequate resources to advance racial equity.”

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