Democrat,
Is a “right” really a “right” if you can’t access it or you can’t afford it?
Back in January, Governor Murphy signed the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act after it was passed by Democrats in the Legislature under the leadership of former Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, former Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, former Senate President Steve Sweeney, and Speaker Craig Coughlin, among others. This bill codified the health care freedoms of Roe v. Wade into state law. We wanted to ensure that every generation of New Jerseyans would be guaranteed the right to control their own body and to decide whether and when to become a parent, regardless of any attempts to interfere in that choice.
Now it is clearer than ever that, in the coming weeks, a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court will likely take a wrecking ball to 50 years of its own precedent and, for the very first time, overturn a decision in order to diminish our rights.
We understand the threat that restricting abortion care poses to so many. We understand that doing so pushes pregnant individuals outside of the medical landscape and places them in danger of surveillance, punishment, and criminalization. No one should be criminalized for getting the care they need. Abortion is health care and health care decisions should be left up to the individual.
We want to remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that all New Jerseyans have access to reproductive health care, including abortion, and that we stand with women across the nation who are facing inevitable hardships on the horizon.
