New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a shield law bill on Thursday aimed at protecting access to individuals seeking “reproductive and gender affirming healthcare” in her state. While speaking about the legislation at a Planned Parenthood in Montclair, New Jersey, Sherrill lamented her perceived difficulties about abortion access in the United States, commenting that it’s easier to get an AR-15 gun than an abortion in the country.
“I came here to this Planned Parenthood right after Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court overturned Roe and turned back the clock on our rights,” Sherrill said while speaking at the bill signing ceremony. “We knew then that states like New Jersey would have to stand in the breach and protect freedoms that generations of women have fought for. In the past four years, 13 states … have enacted total abortion bans. It’s easier to get an AR-15 in the United States than it is to get an abortion. And the attack on reproductive healthcare is literally killing women.”
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The legislation prohibits New Jersey from extraditing people who could be under criminal investigation in other states for receiving abortions or gender-affirming care. It passed both the New Jersey Senate and the New Jersey General Assembly in June. In the Senate, it passed 25-15, and in the General Assembly, 55-23. The bill “secures protections for patients and providers accessing and providing reproductive healthcare services,” reads the legislative document’s official synopsis. It “establishes [the] right of residents to reproductive healthcare activity that is restricted in other states.”
Sherrill touted the bill as the Garden State serving as a line of defense for “freedoms.”
“We have seen attacks from the Trump administration and other states on access to reproductive and gender affirming healthcare, and attempts to impose restrictions across state borders,” said Sherrill. “Here in New Jersey, we are standing firm in defense of reproductive freedoms – including the right to choose and the right to receive gender-affirming care.”
The bill prohibits individuals from interfering with “reproductive healthcare services,” stipulating that a person should be considered “guilty of interference” if any person purposely “physically obstructs any person seeking to enter into or exit 17 from a healthcare services facility.” Additionally, interference charges would include restricting “another’s access to or receipt or provision of reproductive healthcare services or to intimidate the person from becoming or remaining a patient, provider, volunteer, or assistant of reproductive healthcare services, if the conduct would cause a reasonable person to be intimidated.”
Sherill also criticized two Republican governors for their state’s legislation on abortion. She warned that her state would offer sanctuary to individuals who left those states to travel to New Jersey to “access care.”
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“If Greg Abbott or Ron DeSantis tries to investigate someone who came to New Jersey to access care, we will protect anyone seeking care that is legal here in New Jersey from investigations in other states,” said Sherrill.
She expressed assurance that her state would welcome anyone seeking abortion services or gender-affirming care.
“No one should fear intimidation or violence for seeking healthcare, and no healthcare professional should fear punishment from another state for providing care that is legal in New Jersey,” Sherrill said. “With this legislation, we are making clear that New Jersey will protect patients, providers, and the fundamental freedom to make personal healthcare decisions.”
