Abortion rights, in peril in New Jersey
Published: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 5:43 AM
The mask is off now. Gov. Chris Christie is no longer posing as a moderate voice on abortion rights, as he did during his 2009 campaign. He is now championing the anti-abortion cause, saying it is time to restrict those rights.
“This is an issue whose time has come,” he told an anti-abortion rally Monday at the Statehouse.
As a younger politician, Christie favored abortion rights, but he says he changed his mind 14 years ago when his wife, Mary Pat, became pregnant with their daughter, Sarah.
“It was at that moment that it became clear to me that being on the sidelines of this issue was not something that I could live with,” he said. “That child is a life which deserves protection.” There are no grounds to doubt the governor’s sincerity. This change of heart can happen to men and women when they become parents. What’s unsettling is that the governor would impose his spiritual conversion on the rest of us.
This is especially disturbing because the governor last year cut state funding for family planning and women’s health services. That move saved only $7.5 million for the state, while forfeiting a much larger share of federal matching funds.
At the time, he said it was strictly a matter of saving money, but that was plainly untrue. When Democrats found a way to cover the costs with federal money, he still blocked it. The problem was that some of these services were being performed by Planned Parenthood, an organization that anti-abortion conservatives detest.
It’s also disturbing that the governor kept these sentiments hidden during the 2009 campaign, though his spiritual conversion came 14 years ago.
Yes, he made it plain he was anti-abortion, but when The Star-Ledger pressed him, he suggested only the mildest restrictions. He wanted a 24-hour waiting period, and he wanted minors receiving abortions to notify their parents. He even opposed the idea of requiring parental permission.
Now, suddenly, he’s a crusader. And while he didn’t propose specific restrictions, we should be worried. Because even with the protection of Roe v. Wade, many states have found obnoxious ways to harass or block women seeking abortions. (See accompanying chart.)
The governor’s comments also underscore the vital importance of blocking his attempt to pack the state Supreme Court with his ideological soul mates.
By removing Justice John Wallace from the bench last year, despite Wallace’s integrity and record of moderate rulings, the governor declared war on the independence of the court. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) is standing up to him by blocking Christie’s nominee to replace Wallace. Sweeney’s refusal to budge now becomes more important than ever.
This speech will no doubt improve his national standing on the right, and boost his odds of becoming a candidate for vice president in 2012.
His national ambitions, again, have proved costly for New Jersey.
PINCHING ACCESS
Many other states have far more restrictions on abortion than New Jersey does, which has some of the nation’s most permissive rights set up by Roe v. Wade.
Public funding: Thirty-two states embrace the same restriction as federal law, banning the use of Medicaid money for abortions unless a woman’s life is in danger or the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. New Jersey does not.
Private insurance: Four states restrict coverage to cases in which the woman’s life would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term. New Jersey does not.
State-mandated counseling: Eighteen states mandate that, before an abortion, women be given counseling that may include: the purported link between abortion and breast cancer (six states), the ability of a fetus to feel pain (10), long-term mental health consequences for the mother (seven) or information on the availability of ultrasound (10). New Jersey does not.
Source: Guttmacher Institute
Public funding: Thirty-two states embrace the same restriction as federal law, banning the use of Medicaid money for abortions unless a woman’s life is in danger or the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. New Jersey does not.
Private insurance: Four states restrict coverage to cases in which the woman’s life would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term. New Jersey does not.
State-mandated counseling: Eighteen states mandate that, before an abortion, women be given counseling that may include: the purported link between abortion and breast cancer (six states), the ability of a fetus to feel pain (10), long-term mental health consequences for the mother (seven) or information on the availability of ultrasound (10). New Jersey does not.
Source: Guttmacher Institute
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