Your Body. Your Choice.

NCJW/Essex is committed to creating a world where all people, regardless of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, or immigration status, have the right to build their families and live their lives with dignity. We are committed to advancing the goals of reproductive rights so that every woman can make her own decisions about her body, health, and family.

Our section has been a leader in the reproductive health and rights movement in New Jersey. We have campaigned against fake medical clinics, advocated for more comprehensive reproductive health education, and fought to have state family planning funding restored. While much advancement has been made in our state to legally secure a person’s right to abortion and contraception, there is more to be done to truly ensure reproductive freedom for all. Until every woman has the power to make her own informed decisions about her body, sexuality, and future, our work is not over.  All our efforts are based upon a reproductive justice foundation. NCJW/Essex is a member of Right to Thrive New Jersey.

Join us in this work!  Scroll down to find Calls to Action.  

The Supreme Court Has Spoken.  We Need to Be Louder.

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court wiped out 50 years of precedent and the ability of people who will become pregnant to make decisions for themselves and their futures. It is cruel, harmful, and shameful.  
 
In some ways, we have been holding our breath, waiting for this moment since the initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and obtained by Politico was published in May of 2022. Yet for some time, we here in New Jersey have already been dealing with a post-Roe reality. The parking lots of our clinics are already full of cars with out-of-state license plates, medication abortion has already been expanded, and we have already been working with our partners in the Thrive NJ coalition to increase access to reproductive healthcare.
 
So what do we do now?
 
We channel the rage and sorrow we feel today into action (see below). We work to shore up additional protections, and, most importantly, access, here in New Jersey. We use our strength to ensure that New Jersey is a proactive leader in helping those across the country who have lost their rights.
 

It took decades of plotting for the opposition to dismantle Roe. This battle is long. We are not the same advocates we were in 1973. We know more, we are better connected. We are more prepared than ever to continue the fight starting TODAY.

NCJW/Essex is committed to creating a world where all people, regardless of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, or immigration status, have the right to build their families and live their lives with dignity. We are committed to advancing the goals of reproductive rights so that every woman can make her own decisions about her body, health, and family.

Our section has been a leader in the reproductive health and rights movement in New Jersey. We have campaigned against fake medical clinics, advocated for more comprehensive reproductive health education, and fought to have state family planning funding restored. While much advancement has been made in our state to legally secure a person’s right to abortion and contraception, there is more to be done to truly ensure reproductive freedom for all. Until every woman has the power to make her own informed decisions about her body, sexuality, and future, our work is not over.

All our efforts are based upon a reproductive justice foundation. NCJW/Essex is a member of Right to Thrive New Jersey.

To read NCJW/Essex’s statement following the Dobbs decision, please click here.  

CALLS TO ACTION

Here are some ways you can make your voice heard!
Sign the Jewish community’s letter to President Biden urging the administration to creatively explore the executive powers at their disposal and take specific steps to respond to the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe.  To join NCJW/Essex and sign this letter, click here!
 

New Jersey has signed into law the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, S49/A6260, which codifies in statue the rights to abortion and reproductive healthcare and, along with the recent changes in regulations promulgated by the Board of Medical Examiners, expands access to reproductive healthcare. In addition, the Legislature signed into law Bill S413/A6260, which expanded contraception prescriptions to be filled to 12 months at a time. These bills are an excellent first step in our efforts to ensure that everyone in our State is able to access the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare including abortion care. The original bill, the Reproductive Freedom Act, included provisions which would have provided for equity and access such as required abortion and contraception with no co-pays. Rights without access are meaningless and we must continue our efforts to ensure that no community is left behind. 

Call your State Senator (1) and State Assembly people (2).
You can find them here:  https://njleg.state.nj.us/legislative-roster
Contact Senate President Nicholas Scutari:
 
Contact Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin:
 
Script: My name is ______________, with ___ (NCJW/Essex or other organization, if applicable).  I am contacting you today to urge you to meet this moment with action and stand up for reproductive rights and access for everyone – regardless of income, ZIP code or immigration status. 
 

New Jersey needs legislation that removes remaining cost barriers, especially for our most vulnerable communities, so that everyone has access to this time-sensitive care and can make personal decisions about their own bodies and their own lives. Now, legislation has been crafted to do just that. I urge you to support and pass S2918/A4350, the Reproductive Equity Act, by advocating for a scheduled committee hearing.

At this critical moment in history, I ask that you reject abortion stigma and inflammatory rhetoric and fight for better abortion access.  Because rights without access are meaningless. 

Thank you.

 
Personal Insurance Coverage
Check your personal insurance coverage to confirm that both abortion care and contraception are covered. If you have corporate insurance, contact your Human Resources Department to confirm. If you are not covered, ask “WHY NOT?” and “How do I get coverage?”
 
And, if your company has offices in states where abortion care is or will be banned, does corporate insurance cover travel, food, housing and child care for employees needing to go out of state for care? If not, ask WHY NOT?
 
 
New Jersey Abortion Access Fund:
This fund exists to help those who are not able to break through the financial barriers to abortion care in our state.
 

Please consider making a donation here. 

Jewish Fund for Abortion Access in partnership with the National Abortion Federation (NAF), a national organization that represents, serves and supports abortion providers in delivering patient-centered, evidence-based care.

The fund, through NCJW, will help with their emergency relief efforts in three ways:  1) funding the largest hotline in the country which will help individuals learn what they need to access abortion based on where they live.  After reaching out to the hotline, the person calling is assigned a case manager who will help them through their journey; 2) funding travel over state lines for those who need it; and funding abortions at NAF-approved clinics for those who need it.

Click here for more information on the Fund.

Watch our Advocacy-in-a-Minute video, where Reproductive Rights co-chair Phoebe Pollinger discusses Title X and the “gag rule.”

For more information on how you can get involved, email advocacy@ncjwessex.org. 

Click here to learn more about how NCJW/Essex advocated for reproductive rights in 2020.

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