Jack Ciattarelli doubles down on abortion misinformation and a 20-week ban

In a July 25 interview with the hosts of a show on a New Jersey radio station, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli accused Democrats of celebrating abortion, called the state the “abortion capital” of the country, and suggested that women wake up toward the end of their pregnancies and randomly decide to have abortions. 

Ciattarelli is running against Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. The election will take place on Nov. 4.

Ciattarelli told a caller to New Jersey 101.5’s “Deminski & Moore,” “I’ve always respected a woman’s right to choose. I’ve always felt that’s between her and her conscience, her faith, should she have one, her partner, her health care professionals.” Where he disagrees with Democrats, he said, is in believing in parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion.

Ciatterelli then added: “I also disagree with the Democrats in making what I think is New Jersey the abortion capital of the country by inviting people to come here to have their abortions performed and using taxpayer dollars to pay for that abortion. Those are things that I think are very, very wrong.”

New Jersey law currently contains no restrictions on abortion by gestational age and is one of 17 states in which Medicaid funds abortions for its enrollees. 

When host Kylie Moore asked Ciattarelli what the issue would be with the state being an “abortion capital,” he said he didn’t think it is something the state wants to advertise. 

“I just feel, Kylie, the way the Democrats talk about abortion, it’s almost as though they celebrate it. I don’t think it’s anything to be celebrated. It’s a very, very serious decision,” he said. 

Moore pushed back, saying, “I celebrate being able to make that serious decision.” Ciattarelli responded, “I don’t think there’s anything to be celebrated. … I know of people who’ve had abortions in their lives. I don’t ever hear them celebrating it.” He went on: “I think there’s decisions we make in life that we’re happy that we made them — doesn’t mean that we’re happy about having been forced to make them. They were happy with the decision they ultimately made. But I just don’t think abortion is something that we should be celebrating.”

Ciattarelli continued: “I also think that if money’s going to be given to places like Planned Parenthood, why is it we don’t give it to any of these other places, like Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Centers. Why does all the money go to Planned Parenthood?”

Lighthouse is one of what are known as “crisis pregnancy centers.” It is one of thousands of unregulated facilities across the nation that masquerade as reproductive health care clinics. They claim to provide free medical services, but instead provide misinformation to dissuade pregnant people from having an abortion.

According to Planned Parenthood Advocates of New Jersey, there are 59 anti-abortion centers in New Jersey, nearly twice as many as the number of clinics providing abortion care in the state. 

According to a 2024 report from the consulting firm HMA, between 2017-2023, crisis pregnancy centers in the United States received over $400 million in federal funding. The 19th reports that states have increased funding for CPCs by $500 million since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reversed Roe v. Wade in June 2022. 

Ciattarelli has been open regarding his position on limiting abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. His campaign website says his “personal position” is to prohibit “elective abortions” after 20 weeks. 

When host Jeff Deminski asked Ciattarelli about a 20-week abortion ban, Ciattarelli mentioned the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” a bill introduced in the current New Jersey Assembly in June 2024 that would ban abortion at 20 weeks post-fertilization, claiming that a fetus, referred to in the bill as a “pain-capable unborn child,” can feel pain at 20 weeks. 

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “science conclusively establishes that a human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after at least 24–25 weeks.”

“The data’s pretty clear,” Ciattarelli claimed, without providing any data. “The developing fetus starts to feel pain after week 20, if there’s an abortion. So, what I’ve put out there for discussion here in New Jersey, which I think is a reasonable position, is a 20-week ban, with the exception of after 20 weeks, if the mother’s health is seriously at risk or there’s something terribly wrong with the baby, I think they should still be able to make the decision to abort.” 

Violation would entail three to five years behind bars or a fine of up to $15,000, or both, for the person who performs or attempts to perform an abortion after 20 weeks. 

Ciattarelli suggested, without citing any examples, that women choose to have abortions randomly at any point in a pregnancy, including in the last months before reaching full term. 

“I just don’t think people across New Jersey feel comfortable about, that you wake up somehow in month seven or eight and decide, You know what, I don’t think I want to carry this pregnancy anymore, and get an abortion,” he said. 

Moore responded, “But do you really believe that a woman would go through seven or eight months of all the pain, all the torture, and then just be like, Um, never mind?” Ciattarelli said, “I don’t think so, but why would we allow somebody to do that?”  

Less than 1% of all abortions in the U.S. take place after 21 weeks of pregnancy, and the majority that are performed later in pregnancy are due to medical issues such as fetal anomalies or risks to the life of the pregnant person. 

In an op-ed for the New Jersey Spotlight, Democratic nominee Sherrill said about abortion law in the state: “We can’t let the rollback of those protections happen in New Jersey. But that’s exactly what Jack Ciattarelli, my anti-abortion MAGA opponent, has promised to do — overturn our protections for abortion, just like they did at the Supreme Court. With one stroke of a pen, Jack could begin to unravel our rights, and with Trump in the White House and a right-wing Supreme Court, there would be no recourse.”

The New Jersey independent contacted Ciattarelli’s campaign for comment and did not receive a response.