A collective of progressive groups is urging New Jersey legislators during this lame-duck legislative session to pass a number of bills, one of which would provide protections for gender-affirming care.
The People’s Lame Duck Agenda, which was convened by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and comprises approximately 30 other advocacy organizations in the state, wants lawmakers to pass seven bills by Jan. 12, just before the new legislative session begins. The bills address immigrant rights, voter rights, climate change, rights to gender-affirming health care, rights to reproductive health care, rights for incarcerated elders, and strengthened protections against police use of force.
“We’ve decided collectively as a progressive collective that these are the things that matter to us and this is what we want our legislators to hear,” said Lauren Albrecht of LGBTQ civil rights group Garden State Equality, one of the groups in the collective. GSE co-hosted a rally Dec. 8 at the Capitol Complex in Trenton to convince legislators that the bills need to be passed.
One of those is Assembly Bill No. 4656, which according to the bill’s synopsis, “[s]ecures protections for patients and providers accessing and providing legally protected health care services, which are restricted in other states.” Those health care services encompass gender-affirming and reproductive care, including abortion.
The bill was introduced June 25, 2024. It is sponsored by Assemblywomen Shanique Speight, D-29, Ellen J. Park, D-37, Garnet R. Hall, D-28, and Annette Quijano, D-20, and is co-sponsored by 34 other Assembly members. “New Jersey, through this act, will codify critical protections to those seeking and providing reproductive and gender-affirming health care. Further, this act is intended to ensure that anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ persons cannot harm patients or providers,” Section 1.f of the bill states.
If the bill does not get voted on during this legislative session, it would have to be re-introduced, as would be the case for all the other bills on the collective’s agenda. Albrecht, who is GSE’s senior director of advocacy and organizing, said it’s “critical” that the Legislature passes this bill because other states have been prosecuting providers as well as patients crossing state lines to receive care.
For example, a grand jury in Louisiana, which has strict anti-abortion laws, indicted a New York doctor in January of this year, alleging the physician provided abortion medication through the mail to a mother’s minor daughter. The mother also found herself in legal trouble. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected Louisiana’s request for the doctor to be extradited, citing the Empire State’s shield law, like the bill New Jersey is considering. “We have to make sure that our providers in New Jersey are taken care of and not have this worry,” Albrecht said.
At the rally in Trenton, Melissa Firstenberg, a trans woman from Marlton, spoke to the estimated crowd of 100 about the importance of getting the bill passed. “As a trans person, this bill is just so important,” Firstenberg said. “It’s about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Y’all have heard those words before, right?”
Firstenberg spoke about how her life depends on gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, because, she said, her body no longer produces any gender-based hormones. She also spoke about liberty, questioning why a friend of hers can get HRT to deal with menopause but it’s an issue when it comes to gender-affirming care.
“Why does a politician get a say in this at all? This is a decision between me and my doctors,” she said, asking rhetorically if bodily autonomy is a human right. And as far as the pursuit of happiness goes, Firstenberg said that “kind of speaks for itself.”
“I’m trans, and I’m happy, but I need my health care to remain happy,” she said. Firstenberg then let out a sigh and said the federal government is coming for everyone’s rights, “but they’re really coming hard for trans people’s rights.”
“They want us back in the closet. Frankly, they want us gone, but what do we say? We say no. Trans people exist. Get over it. We’re here. We’re not going anywhere,” Firstenberg said, adding that basic human needs such as health care should not be a debate and her very existence should not be a political question.
Everyone in New Jersey deserves health care, according to trans woman Aisling MacDonald, who also addressed the crowd. MacDonald is GSE’s project manager and trainer — trans resiliency.
“Across the nation, there are coordinated attacks on both reproductive and gender-affirming care. These bans are popping up like daisies all across the United States, and they do not stay neatly within state borders. The ideology, the misinformation, the politicization of settled science reaches every single person with an internet connection,” MacDonald said.
People are coming to New Jersey to access care that was “stripped away in their home states,” she said. “We are not here today to talk about gender-affirming care in isolation. Gender-affirming care is reproductive care, and reproductive care is gender-affirming care.”
Everyone knows someone who has accessed care for issues such as miscarriage management, cancer screenings, abortion, fertility support, hormones to treat menopause or low testosterone as well as for gender-affirming care, mental health support, and “life-changing” surgery, according to Aisling. “This care is not abstract; it is part of our daily lives if you are cisgender or transgender,” she said.
And no matter what anyone in Washington says, she continued, nearly every major medical association across the country recognizes that gender-affirming care is life-saving. “That is the data. It is irrefutable, and it is the truth.” She added that even though New Jersey is talked about as a front-runner in human rights, approximately 17 jurisdictions across the country have already passed laws like the one currently being considered.
Senate President Nicholas P. Scutari, D-22, did not respond to a question as to whether he will be bringing the bill to the floor for a vote. A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin, D-19, said she could not comment.
The ACLU NJ and GSE want New Jerseyans to contact their legislators and urge them to pass the bills they’re supporting. Residents may also send messages to lawmakers through the organizations’ websites, aclu-nj.org and gardenstateequality.org.
The bills, which the People’s Lame Duck Agenda lists with the respective Senate and Assembly numbers and a brief explanation, are:
- S3672/A4987 (Immigrant Trust Act) – Limits New Jersey’s involvement n the federal detention and deportation system and allows New Jerseyans to seek protection and support from state and local agencies without fear of deportation.
- S3009/A4083 (New Jersey Voter Empowerment Act) – Strengthens voting protections and expands access to the ballot.
- S3545/A4696 (Climate Superfund Act) – Generates $50 billion over 20 years for infrastructure and resiliency by requiring the world’s largest fossil fuel companies to pay their fair share of the costs tied to flooding, storms, and other impacts.
- S3491/A4656 – Establishes protections for gender-affirming care and abortion providers and patients.
- S3452/A4601 – Ensures New Jerseyans are able to access affordable reproductive health care by eliminating cost-sharing requirements for insurance coverage.
- S2338/A4463 – Brings incarcerated elders home.
- S2348/A4175 – Codifies and strengthens the protections against police use of force.
The ACLU of NJ lists on its website the following organizations as part of the People’s Lame Duck Agenda collective: AAPI NJ; ACLU of New Jersey; Black Lives Matter Paterson; CAIR-NJ; Central Jersey DSA; Cherry Hill Women’s Center; El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City; Empower NJ; Fair Share Housing Center; Faith in New Jersey; First Friends of New Jersey & New York; Garden State Equality; Indivisible Cranbury Democracy Taskforce; Indivisible Highland Park; League of Women Voters of New Jersey; Make the Road New Jersey; New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice; New Jersey Certified Professional Midwives Association; New Jersey Citizen Action; New Jersey Institute for Social Justice; New Jersey Public Education Coalition; New Labor; New Jersey League of Conservation Voters; New Jersey Policy Perspective; New Jersey Poor People’s Campaign; New Jersey Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; New Jersey Working Families Alliance; NJ Harm Reduction Coalition; Palestinian American Community Center; Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey; Salvation and Social Justice; Second Look NJ; Third Act New Jersey; Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ; WADEIn New Jersey; and Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center.
