TRENTON, NJ – Today, state legislators and champions for reproductive health and rights joined Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey (PPAFNJ) to introduce a legislative resolution in support of access to safe and legal abortion. In light of hearings this week regarding the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, and continual attacks by the Trump-Pence administration on access to abortion and birth control across the country, New Jersey supporters of reproductive rights are urging elected officials to take a stand for health care access.

“With this resolution, New Jerseyans are sending a message loud and clear to the rest of the country: we will not stand for a Supreme Court nominee who seeks to restrict women’s rights,” said Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a prime sponsor of the resolution who spoke at today’s rally. “New Jersey’s elected leaders are committed to upholding a woman’s right to reproductive health care, including equitable access to abortion and birth control.”

With the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, the right to access safe and legal abortion is on the line. Without access to safe and legal abortion, women’s health and lives will be at risk. We know Kavanaugh would overrule Roe v. Wade because Trump told us. President Trump made his litmus test clear: He will only appoint biased justices who would, in his words, “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade, and who would strike down the Affordable Care Act, making abortion illegal in this country and leaving millions without health care — including birth control and other reproductive health care services. Judge Kavanaugh meets that test. Judge Kavanaugh has already ruled to limit access to safe and legal abortion in his career. Just last year, he attempted to use his judicial power to prevent a young, undocumented woman in US custody from accessing a safe, legal abortion.

Combined with ongoing attacks by the Trump-Pence administration on reproductive health care, including efforts to dismantle the Title X program and cut off access to preventive family planning services across the county, women’s health is at risk at the federal level. Here in New Jersey, as a state we have made great strides in supporting women’s health care by restoring family planning funding and ensuring Medicaid coverage for all reproductive health care, including abortion and birth control. To continue on this path, PPAFNJ and its supporters called on the State Legislature to pass a resolution in support of safe, legal abortion. While legal abortion is already the law of the land in New Jersey, women’s health advocates say it is important for the state to send a message to federal officials.

“The Trump administration and its supporters in Congress are hellbent on controlling women — even if it sacrifices women’s health,” said Christine Sadovy, Legislative and Political Director of PPAFNJ. “Here in New Jersey, won’t stand by while women’s rights and health are attacked; we will combat every attempt to imperil women’s health by continuing to fight for women’s access to safe, legal abortion and birth control.”

Speakers at today’s rally included Senator Weinberg, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Senator Troy Singleton, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds Jackson, Crystal Charley of the Southern Burlington County NAACP, and Christian Fuscarino of Garden State Equality. The resolution, SR96/AR181, is expected to be voted on by the state legislature later this month.

Photos and video of today’s event are available at https://www.facebook.com/PPActionNJ/.