New Jersey is at it again. There are no restraints in our state from further widening abortion access. The current law explicitly guarantees the right to abortion throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy—the right to kill the unborn, to greatly endanger the lives of women, to making New Jersey a tourism state for abortion and trafficking. And now, we face NJ A 3418 Enters New Jersey in the Women’s Reproductive Health Care Compact.

Introduced in the New Jersey Assembly on February 1, 2024 by Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, NJ A 3418 would enable our governor to execute the Women’s Reproductive Health Care Compact on behalf of NJ and will be fully operative between New Jersey and other states, districts, or territories of the U.S. It will do the following (Analysis provided by New Jersey Right to Life):

1. Prevent the extradition or investigation of an individual or entity involved in the provision or receipt of women’s reproductive health services; (in essence, a “shield law”)
2. Prevent the disclosure of records or permitting civil discovery orders to the provision or receipt of women’s reproductive health care services;
3. Prevent negative licensing actions or malpractice insurance raises and clawback lawsuits against individuals or entities for the provision or receipt of women’s reproductive health care services;
4. Prohibit collection of data on (i) the number of individuals seeking women’s reproductive health care services; ii) the domicile (address) of an individual seeking women’s reproductive health services; (iii) the form of actions taken against women and their medical providers for seeking out of state reproductive health care services; and (iv) barriers identified by women seeking out of state reproductive health care services, including costs for transportation, lodging, food and child care and any other relevant issues. 

Shield laws are unconstitutional as they work to prevent the extradition or investigation of abortion providers, protecting them from criminal and civil liability, even when their actions are a clear violation of the law of a pro-life state.

Most, if not all of the components of this bill are already law in New Jersey, unfortunately.  What this legislation seeks to do is to allow New Jersey to enter into a compact with other like-minded states.  Although it purports to help women, it will have the opposite effect. It will actually shield sex traffickers, sexual predators of minors, abortionists who injure women, and other criminals from any penalties as long as they are helping or providing “reproductive health services.” 

Please contact your legislators and educate them on the dangers of A 3418 if it were enacted. Urge them to vote ‘NO’ on A 3418. Also, contact members of the House Assembly Community Development and Women’s Affairs Committee where A 3418 has been assigned. 

As the American Academy of Medical Ethics (AAME), we believe life begins at conception and an unborn child deserves all the rights set forth in the Constitution, including the right to life. As healthcare professionals, it is our duty to protect the lives and health of our patients—in this case, both mother and child. 

Thank you!