Trenton, NJ — New Jersey Right to Life and the New Jersey Family Policy Center voiced strong opposition to Senate Bill 3663 during a Senate Health Committee hearing on Monday, October 7, 2024. The bill, sponsored by Senator John Burzichelli, seeks to establish a “New Jersey Reproductive Health Travel Advisory” to inform residents about abortion access restrictions across the U.S.
The proposed advisory system includes “Yellow” and “Red” alerts to indicate varying levels of restricted access to reproductive medical care, potentially leading to civil or criminal consequences. Opponents, including Marie Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life and Shawn Hyland of the New Jersey Family Policy Center, argued that the criteria used for the advisories are misleading and could create confusion, potentially endangering women facing medical emergencies.
Critics pointed to data from the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Guttmacher Institute, which indicate that states with strong abortion restrictions still allow exceptions for medical emergencies. Tasy contended that no state criminalizes medical professionals for providing necessary life-saving care, including abortions and miscarriage management.
The bill’s co-sponsor, Senator Angela McKnight, cited the death of Amber Thurman in Georgia in 2022 to justify the advisory, but Thurman’s family attorney, Ben Crump, has attributed her death to medical malpractice rather than restrictive laws.
Opponents argued that the bill, if passed, would waste taxpayer resources while promoting what they called “scare tactics” and false information. They suggested that, given current legal standards, all states would effectively fall under the lowest advisory level, rendering the proposed advisory system meaningless.
