The state of the pro-life movement in New Jersey

After some initial pro-life fits and starts following Roe v. Wade, abortion decisions in the state of New Jersey were gradually taken out of the Legislature’s hands by an activist New Jersey Supreme Court. Its protection of abortion has dovetailed with the pro-abortion commitment of the Democratic Party, which has long dominated New Jersey politics.

All that has happened in a state at least half of whose population is Catholic.

Marie Tasy is Executive Director of New Jersey Right to Life, the state’s leading pro-life organization. She recently spoke with CWR about the situation of life in New Jersey, where the Democratic Governor, Phil Murphy, and Democratic-controlled Legislature have doubled down on protecting abortion after the Dobbs decision.

CWR: When Roe was decided in 1973, New Jersey had a relatively strict abortion law. Its Legislature even petitioned Congress to pass a Human Life Amendment. Now, it is one of America’s most pro-abortion states in terms of legislation. What happened?

Ms. Tasy: A lot of individuals confuse what is legal with what is right. Once the Court legalized abortion and called it a “constitutional right,” it broke down barriers. This enabled the abortion movement to grow and enrich itself with clever marketing strategies to convince people that it was safe, legal, and their constitutional right to exercise.

CWR: Are there any restrictions on abortion in New Jersey today? Does the State fund abortion under Medicaid or other social insurance programs?

Ms. Tasy: New Jersey currently has no restrictions on abortion. In fact, abortion is permitted up to the moment of birth. The state has paid for all Medicaid abortions since 1982, when a pro-abortion group called Right to Choose challenged a state law that paid for childbirth but not abortion for Medicaid patients. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in favor of the pro-abortion group and ordered the state to pay for all Medicaid abortions from that time on.

Earlier this year, the New Jersey Division of Banking and Insurance implemented a rule, enabled by the radical abortion law Governor Murphy Democratic legislative leaders pushed in 2022, to include the provision of abortion in all state-regulated health insurance plans. Nonprofit religious employers have a very narrow exception and must seek permission to opt-out.

CWR: How else is the Trenton establishment pushing abortion?

Ms. Tasy: Where do I begin? Governor Murphy is truly obsessed with abortion. Not only has he provided over $164 million in taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood, he promotes abortion every chance he gets. Though Governor Chris Christie cut that funding, Planned Parenthood is both Murphy’s and New Jersey Democrats’ biggest supporter. In exchange, they get free rein to push abortion policy, including how much money they can siphon from New Jersey’s hardworking taxpayers.

Murphy also introduced a radical abortion bill written by Planned Parenthood which, although pared down in the 2021 Legislature’s lame duck session, set no limits on the gestational age of when an abortion can be performed. That means full-term abortions are enshrined into law for residents and nonresidents, making abortion a “civil right.” It also purports to restrain future legislatures from the passage of any future restrictions and invalidates current laws that interferes with the intent of the act, including the state’s 1974 conscience clause protections for health care workers. That act was signed into law January 13, 2022.

He also instructed his appointed Board of Medical Examiners to repeal completely the Rules regarding Termination of Pregnancy and adopt a Major Rule Change on Abortion despite a huge outcry from the public. These Rule changes are dangerous and place women’s lives in danger. The changes now allow abortions up to 14 weeks to be performed in an office setting by non-physicians, nurse midwives, certified midwives, advance care practice nurses.

In addition, abortions after 14 weeks can now be performed in an office-based setting. Hospital admitting privileges are no longer required. In response to the Dobbs Decision, the Legislature passed and Governor Murphy signed two bills which will shield sex traffickers and other criminals and further endanger women and young girls, making New Jersey a global safe haven for abortion.

CWR: U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer recently launched verbal attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers in New Jersey. What’s behind that, and how much traction could attacks on these centers gain in New Jersey?

Ms. Tasy: Congressman Gottheimer is running for Governor in 2025. He is clearly trying to shore up his pro-abortion bona fides with the abortion industry. The New Jersey Attorney General issued a Consumer Alert in December 2022 warning the public about “deceptive marketing” by Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Attorneys for a Consortium of Pregnancy Centers filed an Open Public Record Act Request with the Department of Consumer Affairs requesting documentation to prove the Attorney General’s allegations. The State refused to provide the documents and the Attorneys for the Pregnancy Center filed a suit in February 2023, winning a Superior Court decision in their favor in July. The judge also ordered the State to pay their attorney fees. The attorneys have still not received the documents.

CWR: Apart from abortion, New Jersey has also legalized euthanasia. Under what conditions can one kill one’s self in New Jersey? What is the role of physicians in “assisting” this process?

Ms. Tasy: I will try to summarize for brevity. The law allows a person who has been diagnosed as having a terminal stage of an irreversibly fatal illness, disease, or condition with a prognosis, based upon reasonable medical certainty, of a life expectancy of six months or less to live. The individual has to be “capable,” a resident, and see two physicians who agree that the patient is terminally ill. A request for the lethal medication must be made twice orally and once in writing. The oral request must be separated by at least 15 days. The written request has to be signed and dated by the patient and witnessed by at least two people. The physician writes the prescription for the lethal drugs and can dispense directly to the patient or an identified agent of the patient. The law is filled with loopholes and sloppy language that leaves open the potential for abuse of the law by relatives, friends or caregivers. We worked with a Coalition of National and Disability groups to oppose the passage of this law.

CWR: New Jersey supposedly limits the “right” to kill one’s self to state residents, a restriction recently eliminated in Vermont and now being challenged in New Jersey by a Delaware resident. How could New Jersey expand its euthanasia regime?

Ms. Tasy: The Court could rule in favor of the plaintiff and eliminate the residency requirement, or the Legislature itself could amend the law to eliminate it. There is always potential in the lame duck session, between the November 2023 elections and the convening of the new Legislature in January.

CWR: What is the status of surrogacy in New Jersey?

Ms. Tasy: Governor Murphy signed a law legalizing the practice of gestational surrogacy. NJRTL joined a coalition of national groups to oppose this law.

CWR: The situation looks grim. Is there hope for clawing back anything of a culture of life in New Jersey? What would it take—politically and socially—to make progress in that direction?

Ms. Tasy: New Jersey Right to Life sponsored a Marist poll this past April that showed that 60% of NJ voters believe abortion should be limited to at most the first three months of pregnancy. 66% oppose abortions in the last few months of pregnancy. These results show that New Jersey voters clearly do not support the radical abortion laws passed by this Legislature and signed by this Governor.

We need to pass laws that reflect these views. We will not be able to accomplish this until we break the deadly stranglehold of Planned Parenthood and elect a Governor and Legislature that follows the will of the people.

CWR: New Jersey, of course, has also been sending the indefatigable champion of life, Chris Smith, to Congress so long that he’s become one of the most senior members of the House. What other pro-life leadership is there in the State?

Ms. Tasy: Congressman Chris Smith is a pro-life hero. We are so very proud of him and his wife, Marie, for their tireless work on behalf of mothers and babies. We have many pro-life legislators in the state who have stood with us and spoken out against Murphy’s radical abortion regime. The entire Legislature is up for re-election on November 7^th. It is our hope that more pro-life legislators will be elected in this cycle so that we can begin to pass life protective laws that are supported by the majority of our state’s citizens.