TRENTON, NJ – Today, the New Jersey State Senate passed SR96, a resolution in support of safe, legal abortion, by a bipartisan vote of 23-10-7. The resolution sends a message loud and clear across the country that New Jersey is a state that stands up for reproductive health and rights, and opposes any efforts to restrict access to abortion care in New Jersey and beyond.

“Here in New Jersey, we won’t stand by while women’s rights and health are attacked,” said Triste Brooks of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. “We are thrilled that the full state legislature has made their voices heard: they will protect and preserve women’s rights and lives by continuing to fight for access to safe, legal abortion and birth control.”

New Jersey, as a state, has made great strides in supporting women’s health care by restoring family planning funding and ensuring Medicaid coverage for reproductive health care, including abortion and birth control. But that has not been the case across the country. Because of ongoing attacks by the Trump-Pence administration on reproductive health care — including a stacked federal judiciary and efforts to dismantle the Title X program and cut off access to preventive family planning services — reproductive health is at risk. And if Roe v. Wade is overturned, as a result of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, at least 20 states are poised to seek to ban abortion immediately. Politicians across the country have not been shy about seeing this as their opportunity to make access to abortion illegal.

“The ability to make decisions about having children is deeply personal and one of the most fundamental human rights,” said Brooks. “This resolution is important because it makes clear New Jersey’s commitment to women’s health and rights. We won’t go backwards and we will help lead the country in the fight for women’s rights and lives!”

Last month, the Assembly voted on an identical resolution, AR181, by a vote of 47-16-9.  We applaud the sponsors of both resolutions, including Senators Loretta Weinberg, Steven Sweeney, and Troy Singleton and Assemblymembers Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Raj Mukherji, and Yvonne Lopez, for standing strong on this issue.