Lawmakers advanced a bill Thursday intended to protect abortion patients and people being treated for gender dysphoria, along with their medical providers, from civil and criminal liabilities.
The Assembly Health Committee voted 8-3 along party lines to approve the Democratic-sponsored measure following hours of testimony largely in favor of the measure, much of it from parents who described how access to gender identity-related care saved the lives of their children.
“No one should live in fear. No one should be persecuted for what they decide to do medically,” said Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Burlington), the committee chair.
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Assemblywoman Margie Donlon (D-Monmouth), a physician, said now is the time to take steps to protect patients and providers “who should not have to fear retaliation for providing legally protected medicine.”
“We cannot afford to risk waiting any longer to pass it,” Donlon said.
The bill, which passed the Senate health committee Monday, creates a new crime of interfering with reproductive health activities, which the bill defines to include treatments used by transgender patients. The measure spells out that interfering can be harassing, harming, or blocking patients or providers from access to a healthcare facility.
Violators could face as many as ten years in prison and a fine of $150,000 if someone is injured during the interference.
Advocates said the measure is needed given the Trump administration’s push to curtail healthcare services for transgender minors, and given limitations in other states on access to reproductive health services. The bill was first introduced in 2024.
“I trust you will do what is right to protect this marginalized community that has already endured so much,” Tom Richards, the parent of a trans child, urged the committee.
Jennifer Williams, a Trenton councilwoman who is transgender, said the legislation does nothing to expand available services but would protect access to those services for tens of thousands of New Jerseyans. Williams said some people who are trans have begun to ration medication in case it should become unavailable.
“This medical care is only protected by an executive order, and it needs to be protected by a law,” Williams said, referencing a 2023 order signed by former Gov. Phil Murphy.
A handful of people spoke out against the bill, with some claiming that treatments related to gender identity, particularly for minors, are unsafe. This type of care for young people usually involves treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and mental health services.
Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, said the legislation raised multiple concerns and could weaken parental rights. Tasy said it could also restrict free speech by prohibiting what she called “sidewalk counseling” at reproductive healthcare facilities, where she said abortion opponents work to engage patients with “quiet prayer” and help to convince women to continue with their pregnancies.
Tasy said she and her group oppose violence and threats of any kind and said there are already laws that criminalize those behaviors.
“Those laws are appropriate and already in place,” she said.
The whole country is watching, and New Jersey again has a chance to lead by example.
– Rosaria Matos, clinical social worker.
Republican members of the committee raised similar issues.
Assemblyman John Azzariti Jr (R-Bergen), a medical doctor, said he had “an entire binder here full of concerns.” Azzariti noted that language in the bill would bar state officials from collaborating with other states’ investigations into reproductive care providers or patients here.
“This makes New Jersey potentially a sanctuary for assaults on parental rights and for criminals,” he said.
Assemblyman Brian Rumpf (R-Ocean) suggested the bill could be unconstitutional by limiting free speech.
“I think there are a lot of unintended consequences to this bill. I think there is a lot of ambiguity. A lot of phraseology,” he said.
Azzariti, Rumpf, and Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Hunterdon) voted against the bill.
Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), a chief sponsor of the bill in the Senate, told the committee Thursday that the legislation merely seeks to protect healthcare.
“But something dramatically shifts when we use the word abortion or transgender care. As if those are not under the banner of health equity and a personal decision that should be had within the confines of the patients and their medical provider and their families. No one else,” Ruiz said.
Trans advocates said the measure does what is needed to protect services families have come to rely on. Amy Richards said after her daughter underwent treatment for gender dysphoria, “the transformation was phenomenal.”
Richards said her daughter now has a successful career and a rich life.
“She’s able to do all of this because she has access to healthcare in her home state of New Jersey,” Richards said.
At times over the last year, families in New Jersey have been warned by several hospital systems that care for their trans children could end, something that providers nationwide said is a concern for three-quarters of their transgender patients, according to a 2025 survey by UCLA School of Law.
The committee also heard from healthcare providers like Rosaria Matos, a clinical social worker who is trans and treats many patients who are transgender.
“Providers, including myself, fear for our lives and are leaving the state,” Matos said, adding, “The whole country is watching, and New Jersey again has a chance to lead by example.”
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