Pro-life groups decry signing of New Jersey abortion law

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Thursday signed legislation with sweeping legal immunity for abortion providers. Pro-life advocates condemned the law, urging that it broadly shields abortionists while failing to protect mothers and babies.

The law exempts abortion providers from certain investigations, legal actions, and records requests originating outside New Jersey. Sex-altering procedures were added to the protected entities as part of the law’s definition of so-called reproductive healthcare. The law will block any attacks from the Trump administration to impose restrictions on these services, Sherrill said in a statement.

The law also made it a crime to interfere with patients going into abortion facilities. Individuals can’t injure, threaten, intimidate, or physically block patients.

Why do pro-life groups decry the law? The law built a legal fortress around those who profit from abortion, said Marie Tasy, the executive director of New Jersey’s Right to Life. It barred abortion providers from external scrutiny of their services, she said. Additionally, the law vaguely defined interference with patients, Tasy said. The law could wrongly block peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, and offering mothers alternatives outside of abortion facilities. Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life, similarly condemned the law.

Dig deeper: Read Elizabeth Black’s report on a court ruling in Idaho that allowed abortions in certain cases for the health of the mother.