New Jersey is committed to ensuring that our residents, and those who travel here from other states, have access to the reproductive health care and abortion care they need. Attorney General Platkin, with the support of Governor Phil Murphy and his administration, will use all available resources to protect the rights of women and their ability to make their own healthcare decisions.
Eliminating barriers to reproductive health services. In October, Attorney General Platkin joined Governor Phil Murphy to publicly reaffirm New Jersey’s commitment to protecting the most basic of rights – the right to decide when or if you have a child. Together, they highlighted a number of rule proposals from the State Board of Medical Examiners (BME) and Board of Pharmacy (BOP) that will make it easier for both New Jersey residents and visitors to access reproductive health services and resources in 2024. Those changes include enabling pharmacists to provide self-administered hormonal contraceptives to patients without a prescription and establishing the regulatory framework for Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Midwives to perform first trimester abortions safely and effectively, which will help expand the pool of providers able to offer these services.
Protecting contraceptive coverage. Attorney General Platkin co-led a coalition of 22 states in urging the federal government to eliminate dangerous rules from the previous administration that allowed employers to interfere in the reproductive health decisions of their employees. These rules took away contraceptive coverage from women who should have been entitled to cost-free coverage under the Affordable Care Act. New Jersey and the coalition welcomed the Biden Administration’s proposal to rescind parts of the Trump-era rules and restore access to cost-free contraceptive coverage for all Americans.
Standing up for women’s rights and reproductive rights. In the aftermath of Dobbs, attacks on women’s reproductive rights shifted. This year, barriers were imposed on access to contraceptives and mifepristone, a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 for use in a medical abortion during pregnancy and to manage early miscarriage. These efforts, while taking place far from New Jersey, have a nationwide impact. And at every step of the way, the Attorney General Platkin has strongly reaffirmed New Jersey’s unyielding commitment to protecting access to both.
