State legislators introduced a series of bills called the Reproductive Freedom and Health Equity Bill Package that will codify many reproductive and bodily autonomy rights in the state of New Jersey. The eight-bill package will ensure shield laws for transgender healthcare (or gender affirming care) and other healthcare necessities.
Introduced just two years after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, the bill is celebrated by its supporters as a “meaningfully improvement in accessing and providing stigmatized healthcare services in New Jersey.” LGBTQ activists have commended the series of bills as a matter of urgent protection.
For Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz the bill is about the present, as much as the legislation is about the future.
Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz introduced the “Reproductive Freedom and Health Equity Bill Package” at a press conference on June 24, 2024 in Trenton. Garden State Equality Action Fund, Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, ACLU of New Jersey, League of Women Voters of New Jersey, and some of the other 80+ members of the Thrive NJ coalition joined Ruiz.
Garden State Equality (GSE) Action Fund worked in collaboration on the bill to ensure that reproductive care also includes gender affirming care.
“We’re proud to work with our coalition partners to ensure that New Jersey continues to lead the way in securing health equity and bodily autonomy for anyone who needs it,” Lauren Albrecht said in a GSE press release. Albrecht is the director of advocacy and organizing at the state’s largest LGBTQ organization.
Jamie Zug, Garden State Equality Action Fund board member and attorney, further clarified in an email how transgender healthcare (or gender affirming care) would change.
Zug noted that the bills wouldn’t “address or change the scope” of transgender healthcare in New Jersey, but affirm them — protect them. Also, transgender healthcare is usually subject to the same laws as other kinds of healthcare in the state. This is important for how providers discern best practice care for different patient populations. For example, transgender healthcare includes abortion, reproductive healthcare, and access to that care like most people.
“The transgender healthcare components of these bills are largely ‘shield state’ provisions,” Zug said. “This means that the bills aim to protect providers and patients who are in New Jersey from the enforcement efforts of other states — states that limit, ban, or criminalize transgender and reproductive healthcare that is legal in New Jersey.”
The same goes for abortion and bodily autonomy in general.
“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and its impact nationally, now more than ever we must continue to protect reproductive healthcare and bodily autonomy rights,” said Teresa Ruiz in the release. “Every individual deserves the right to make decisions about their own body, life, and future without interference or fear.”
Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, the New Jersey legislature enacted the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, which codified into state law the legal right to obtain an abortion and reproductive care in the state. This includes the right to contraception, the right to terminate a pregnancy, and the right to carry a pregnancy to term, without government interference or fear of prosecution.
Garden State Equality says the bill package includes provisions to protect patients and providers of reproductive health and gender affirming care as well. “Protecting our valuable providers is a great step towards ensuring everyone has legally protected healthcare services, no matter what happens outside of New Jersey,” Albrecht said.
As of now, 20 states have some kind of abortion ban. Some have a total ban, six week ban, 12 week ban, or 15-18 week ban, according to the New York Times abortion ban tracker. Additionally, 25 states have a trans health care ban, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Many of these laws implicate a provider for performing care that is both life-saving and the choice of the patients.
Some activists said this legislation is about nurturing democracy. “There is a clear, bright line between a healthy democracy and reproductive justice,” said Jesse Burns, the executive director of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey.
Burns believes protecting the legal right to abortion is critical, but that “these rights without access aren’t enough. Disparities are particularly stark for people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, and other communities that disproportionately bear the brunt of shrinking access to reproductive health care in this country,” said Burns.
Alejandra Sorto, Campaign Strategist for the ACLU of New Jersey, looks forward to supporting the bill. He said, “We look forward to advocating for the swift passage and implementation of this bill as a key step toward equity and to working with lawmakers to continue expanding abortion access for all.”
