Administration working to move Reproductive Freedom Act, Murphy says – New Jersey Globe | New Jersey Politics

Gov. Phil Murphy said his administration is working to advance a bill codifying abortion protections in the face of a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court that stalled after President Joe Biden entered the White House.

Announced last October, the Reproductive Freedom Act has now sat for more than six months without seeing so much as a committee hearing.

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), its prime sponsor, in March told the New Jersey Globe the measure had stalled after pushback from some members in both houses who dont think we really have to do this now.

Murphy isnt among the naysayers.

We need to do it preemptively so were not being dragged by some decision not yet taken by the U.S. Supreme Court, he said. I think its imperative. Were working it. Were working it with legislators, with advocates.

But the bill will likely languish despite the governors urging. A senior Senate source on Wednesday told the New Jersey Globe the proposal would likely not move until the lame duck session, if it moves at all.

The states abortion protections stem from a 1982 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that found restrictions on the procedure infringed on womens right to control their bodies, but that opinion acknowledged abortion as an issue assumed a new dimension after Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion nationwide.

The bills backers fear a 6-3 conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court could imperil the state protections along with the federal ones.

The general fact of the matter is its not moving at the pace it needs to move, and I think people are in fact lulled a little bit asleep on this one at the moment and they should not be, Murphy said. This is needed, and its needed right now.

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Administration working to move Reproductive Freedom Act, Murphy says - New Jersey Globe | New Jersey Politics