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| New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy (D) |
New Jersey's Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act tasked the state's Department of Banking Insurance to determine whether health insurance providers should be required to cover abortion. The conclusions released by the department argued that “abortion is part of comprehensive insurance coverage for reproductive care and should reasonably be included in the range of services coverage by health insurance.”
Further, the department argued that abortion coverage costs would be offset by costs that health insurance companies would not have to pay for prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care. Essentially, the department argued that health insurance companies could save money by paying for abortions instead of health care that values the lives of the unborn and young infants.
“New Jersey remains a leader in safeguarding reproductive rights and health care services. Implementation of this requirement across department-regulated plans will provide access to abortion services without exceptions limiting coverage — reaffirming a woman’s ability to make medical decisions about her reproductive health,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement. “This rulemaking is another step forward in ensuring residents can access the reproductive care they both need and deserve.”
New Jersey's law did not create a new legal right to abortion. Vulnerable New Jersey women could already choose abortion. The new law requires third parties to pay for elective abortions. That is the opposite of choice.
