Gov. Phil Murphy Friday underscored New Jersey’s status as an abortion sanctuary state — just one week after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — by signing two bills that would help shield patients who travel here to terminate pregnancies and the Jersey clinicians who provide abortion health care.
New Jersey is among 24 states where abortion is still legal — and Gov. Murphy has defiantly established a refuge here for out-of-state patients desperate to end their pregnancies but stripped of those options, after the high court’s ruling.
Providers like Roxanne Sutocky with the Women’s Center in Cherry Hill feel some relief. “Right now, our phones are ringing off the hook — with folks from Ohio and West Virginia, where bans are actively being enacted right now. And this is going to continue to unfold over the coming days and weeks. So these protections are critical to ensure we can provide our health care services with confidence.”
