A new mandate from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration will force private health insurance plans in the state to cover elective abortions.
New Jersey already has one of the highest abortion rates in the country and some of the most permissive pro-abortion laws. However, officials in Murphy’s administration asserted that the regulation is necessary because some women can’t afford abortions, NJ Advance Media reports.
In a new report, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance said private health insurance plans should cover elective abortions as part of reproductive health care because “state law preserves the right to terminate a pregnancy without government interference.”
Department officials said the mandate will go into effect Jan. 1, WABC-TV News 7 reports. It will apply to groups that sell insurance through the New Jersey health insurance marketplace Get Covered New Jersey, a spokeswoman for department Commissioner Marlene Caride told NJ Advance Media.
The School Employees’ Health Benefits Program and the State Health Benefits Plan, which cover public employees, also will be required to cover elective abortions by 2024, according to the report.
The Murphy administration introduced the regulation after the state legislature rejected a similar proposal last year. New Jersey already forces taxpayer to pay for elective abortions through Medicaid, and more than 22,000 unborn babies are aborted in the state every year.
New Jersey Right to Life executive director Marie Tasy told LifeNews that the governor is doing the bidding of the billion-dollar abortion chain Planned Parenthood, which has donated heavily to his political campaigns.
ACTION ALERT: To complain about the new mandate, Contact Gov. Phil Murphy.
“Announcing this regulation to include abortion on demand coverage up to the moment of birth on Thanksgiving Eve and once again fast tracking the process during the Christmas season and depriving NJ citizens of adequate public input on the matter demonstrates a display of unparalleled abortion zealotry and repugnant arrogance by Governor Murphy and his administration,” Tasy said.
She said Murphy already has forced state taxpayers to give $114 million tax dollars to Planned Parenthood since being elected.
NJ Advance Media also described the new regulation as “fast-tracked,” and noted that religious employers are not automatically exempted; instead, they must request and receive approval to be exempted from the pro-abortion mandate.
Unsurprisingly, the abortion chain Planned Parenthood praised the governor and his new mandate in a statement last week, while describing the killing of unborn babies in abortions as a “universal right.”
Earlier this year, New Jersey Right to Life warned voters about how extreme state Democrat leaders are on abortion. The pro-life group pointed to a USA Today editorial by Murphy and Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver that admits they also support late-term abortions and oppose parental consent for minors.
“They don’t care that the people of NJ don’t support such an extreme edict!” the pro-life organization responded.
Polls consistently show that a strong majority of Americans support legal protections for unborn babies, parental consent for minors, bans on taxpayer-funded abortions and other limits.
A recent Harvard poll found 72 percent of Americans, including 75 percent of women, oppose abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Another Marist poll in January similarly found 71 percent of Americans oppose abortion after the first three months of pregnancy.
Even in Democrat strongholds like California, polls show opposition to unrestricted abortions through all nine months of pregnancy. For example, a Rasmussen poll in August found only 13 percent of California voters think abortions should be legal up to birth.
ACTION ALERT: To complain about the new mandate, Contact Gov. Phil Murphy.
