TRENTON – This afternoon in Atlantic City, Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin joined a roundtable hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss protecting reproductive rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s extreme right-wing decision in Dobbs. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overruled five decades of settled precedent and held that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. Acting AG Platkin delivered remarks highlighting New Jersey’s efforts to protect abortion rights, and he participated in the roundtable alongside state legislators and reproductive rights leaders.

During the roundtable discussion, Acting Attorney General Platkin emphasized that the Attorney General’s Office, working with the Murphy Administration, will do everything in its power to protect and expand access to reproductive health care. For example, this month Acting AG Platkin established the Reproductive Rights Strike Force within the Department of Law & Public Safety to enforce the right to abortion access for New Jersey residents and those who travel to New Jersey from other states to seek abortion care. The Strike Force will use a range of civil and criminal enforcement tools to hold accountable individuals who threaten or intimidate patients or providers; hold accountable individuals who violate patient confidentiality requirements; and develop strategic initiatives and undertake investigations to secure private data of patients and providers and limit the sharing of personal health-related data with third parties. 

The Acting Attorney General also highlighted that the Attorney General’s Office has issued guidance to the public on their right to abortion care under New Jersey law, and will be issuing additional guidance to law enforcement, medical providers, and the general public in the coming weeks.

These actions follow on the heels of critical laws to protect abortion access that the State Legislature enacted and Governor Murphy signed earlier this year.  In January of this year, Governor Murphy signed into law the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, which codifies the fundamental right to an abortion in the state. And one week after the decision in Dobbs, the Governor signed two critical laws furthering our State’s commitment to protecting abortion rights for New Jersey residents and anyone else who comes to New Jersey seeking abortion care.

Attendees included:

• Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, CMS Administrator
• Acting AG Platkin
• Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz
• Mila Jasey, Assemblywoman
• Alejandra Sorto, Campaign Strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
• Roslyn Rogers Collins, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey

To learn more about your rights to access reproductive care in New Jersey, please click here.

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