NJ abortion rights leader says a Republican governor could restrict reproductive rights

Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, worries that if former assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli is elected governor, the reproductive rights New Jerseyans have become accustomed to could be erased. 

Ciattarelli is the Republican candidate running for governor of New Jersey in a race to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. His opponent is Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who was endorsed by Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey in June. 

“We had [Republican] Gov. Chris Christie for eight years, and he cut family planning funding from the state budget every year for eight years,” Wojtowicz said. “Clinics closed. STD rates rose 35% across the state, and in some counties, it was even higher than that. We saw cancer rates go up because they’re getting detected later. So we know what happens when cuts to funding to family planning. It’s worse health outcomes for everyone, and we expect that Jack Ciattarelli would do the same,” she said. 

New Jersey’s current Democratic administration has consistently supported access to abortion and reproductive health care. 

New Jersey is one of 17 states in which state Medicaid funds abortions. Existing law prohibits the use of federal funding for abortions.

In 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, Murphy signed the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, which recognized the right to an abortion in the state constitution. 

In June, New Jersey legislators passed a $58.8 billion budget, allocating $52 million for “family planning services and reproductive health programs.” 

Wojtowicz said, despite the support for reproductive rights among New Jerseyans, a Republican at the helm of the state government could restrict reproductive rights. 

“Even if the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act is not overturned, and we have that right in New Jersey, rights without access are meaningless,” Wojtowicz said “There’s a lot of damage that a Jack Ciatttrelli governorship could cause, whether it is cutting family planning funding, trying to push Planned Parenthood out of state Medicaid, which we know the Supreme Court has said states can do.”

On July 4, President Donald Trump signed the 2025 reconciliation bill into law. Passed by the Republican-led Congress, the tax bill includes a provision that denies organizations such as Planned Parenthood and its affiliates millions of Medicaid funding for services not related to abortion because their facilities provide abortion care. 

The bill specifically blocks Medicaid funding to nonprofit health care providers for one year if the provider “primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care; and provides for abortions,” and received over $800,000 in the 2023 fiscal year. 

Planned Parenthood argues the bill is “unconstitutionally vague and violates Planned Parenthood Federation and these Members’ First Amendment and Due Process rights.”

On July 28, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a preliminary injunction  blocking on the enforcement of the reconciliation bill’s cuts to Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding while a lawsuit makes its way through the courts. 

“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” Talwani, an appointee of President Barack Obama, wrote in the 58-page order. “In particular, restricting Members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”

The new order replaces and expands a preliminary injunction issued by Talwani on July 21, which the Trump administration appealed. 

Alyssa Morrison, senior staff attorney for reproductive justice with Lawyers for Good Government, told the New Jersey Independent that the Trump team will likely appeal Talwani’s latest ruling.

“Whichever way this particular fight goes, I do think it’s going to continue to be a part of the conservative policy agenda to defund Planned Parenthood, whatever way they can,” Morrison said.

In an email to the New Jersey Independent, Sherrill said if elected, she would codify the right to an abortion in the state constitution and protect Planned Parenthood. 

“Unlike Jack Ciattarelli, who has vowed to defund Planned Parenthood and supports an abortion ban,” she said, adding, “As the federal government rolls back critical funding for Medicaid and Planned Parenthood alike, I’ll protect women’s rights to reproductive healthcare and expand access to affordable health care for families.”