Abortion Expansion in New Jersey Prompts Concerns About Prayer, Comparisons to Gun Legislation

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) expanded access to abortions and transgender treatments on Thursday.

The Details: The new law expands shield laws for those seeking abortions and transgender treatments in the state, and it criminalizes "intimidation" and "interference" of services. Sherrill signed the bill, S2260/A2218, into law at a Planned Parenthood in Montclair, New Jersey, after it passed 25-15 in the Senate and 55-23 in the General Assembly in June. In a press release published on Thursday, she touted her administration's $52 million directive for abortion services in fiscal year 2027.

Could People Be Arrested For Praying Outside Abortion Clinics? The law specifically criminalizes "the intimidat[ion of a] person from becoming or remaining a patient, provider, volunteer, or assistant of reproductive healthcare services, if the conduct would cause a reasonable person to be intimidated."

While administrative spokeswoman Maggie Garbarino said the law doesn't prevent "lawful, peaceful protest or the exercise of constitutionally protected speech," she asserted that it does prevent "violence, threats, intimidation, physical obstruction, [and] property damage." But New Jersey Right to Life Director Marie Tasy contested the subjectivity in the law's wording: "Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, or simply offering help and alternatives outside a facility can easily be labeled 'intimidation' by someone who claims to feel threatened, leaving pro-life advocates open to criminal charges that are difficult to disprove and chilling constitutionally protected expression."

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Is It Easier To Get An AR-15 Than An Abortion In The US? Sherrill claimed, "In the past four years, 13 states … have enacted [near] total abortion bans. It's easier to get an AR-15 in the United States than it is to get an abortion."

While each state includes nuanced legislation for both gun and abortion laws, the data is roughly as follows:

• 27 states have virtually no restrictions on AR-15s; 30 states have virtually no restrictions on abortion before "viability"
• 12 states have partial restrictions on AR-15s; 2 states have restrictions after 12 weeks gestation and 5 states have restrictions after 6 weeks gestation
• 11 states have near-total restrictions on AR-15s; 13 states have near-total abortion restrictions

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