The NJ Board of Medical Examiners appointed by Governor Murphy adopted the Rules on 10/13/21 despite a huge outcry from medical professionals. The adopted Rules were published in the NJ. Register on 12/6/21. Read the article which includes our comments HERE

 Thank you to those who took action on this important matter!  We believe these new rules which were overwhelmingly supported by Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry will place women’s lives in danger.  

The NJ Board of Medical Examiners voted unanimously in September to adopt Rule Changes on Abortion. They published the Proposed Rule Changes on Abortion on January 4, 2021.  Comments were due before March 5, 2021.   Here is a link to the Proposed Changes  Read

Below is a summary of some of the proposed changes: 

• Removes the requirement that abortions only be performed by a physician licensed to practice medicine and surgery and expressly allows non-physician such as Advanced Practice Nurses, Physician Assistants, and Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Midwives to perform abortions up to 14 weeks gestation in an office setting.
• Removes the requirement that abortions after 14 weeks have to be performed in a licensed hospital setting; instead permitting them to be done in an office-based setting.
• Removes the requirement that medical professionals performing abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

Note:  Currently, there are about 11,024 advanced practice nurses, 4,379 physician assistants, 363 certified nurse midwives and 15 certified midwives in New Jersey who may be authorized to perform the procedure in the future, as confirmed by state officials on Monday, January 4, 2021.

The NJ Board of Medical Examiners is appointed by Governor Murphy. It is obvious  they are doing his bidding when they voted unanimously to change these rules in September.  Contrary to their claims, these changes in no way make abortion safer for women.  Please see our comments in the nj.com article which are highlighted at the bottom of the article pasted below.

Below is an article from nj.com about the proposed changes.

Access to abortion in N.J. would widen under proposed rules endorsed by Murphy

Updated 1:28 PM; Today 1:28 PM

By Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Doctors would no longer be the only medical professionals permitted to terminate pregnancies in New Jersey under rules proposed Monday that are intended to repeal medically unnecessary and “outdated” regulations that have limited women’s access to abortions.

Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced the state Board of Medical Examiners, which licenses physicians and regulates the practice of medicine, voted to repeal rules that have limited who performs abortions and where they are done.

Under current rules, only doctors can perform abortions. And if they occur after 14 weeks, they must be performed in a hospital, or an ambulatory surgery center “that has in place a credentialing process to evaluate the physician’s training and experience,” according to the text of the regulations.

If the new rules are approved, the state would allow advance practice nurses, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives and certified midwives to perform surgical or suction abortions. These procedures, also known as an aspiration abortion, are the most commonly used technique to end a pregnancy in the first trimester.

The new rules also would define “early aspiration abortion” as a “minor procedure,” that does not involve the use of anesthesia services, and can be done in a medical office.

A committee of the state medical board began examining the issue in 2018, according to a summary of the proposed new rules. Among its research, it found the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on Reproductive Health Services that year had studied the medical literature and concluded most abortions are performed within the first 13 weeks and complications were very rare.

Repealing these old rules would lift “barriers to abortion care that are unrelated to safety” and “ensure abortions are regulated like other office-based surgical and special procedures,” according to the draft proposal.

“The Board of Medical Examiners’ evaluation of the medical evidence will modernize New Jersey’s outdated regulations and barriers to reproductive health care in New Jersey,” Murphy said in a statement. “I thank the Board of Medical Examiners for their thoughtful and deliberative examination of the rules and work to repeal antiquated regulations and expand access to reproductive care for all New Jerseyans.”

Murphy and members of the state Legislature have signaled their intent to protect abortion rights in New Jersey since President Trump nominated and the U.S. Senate approved Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative-leaning jurist to the U.S. Supreme Court in October.

With a conservative majority now on the court and a number of abortion rights cases pending, it’s possible the nation’s highest court could overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision giving a woman’s right to abortion. If so, abortion rights would become an issue decided by each state.

Weeks after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died and before Barrett was confirmed, Murphy and state lawmakers announced they would pass the Reproductive Freedom Act, a bill that would enshrine the right to abortion and other reproductive health care for women in New Jersey. Kaitlin Wojtowicz from the
Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey praised the Board’s actions.

“In New Jersey, everyone should be able to receive the care they need and plan their families without barriers, fear, or interference from others. Today’s publication of a proposed new rule by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners will continue to move our state in this direction,” Wojtowicz said.

Wojtowicz said with the passage of the new rules and the bill, “these parallel processes will help ensure that access to reproductive health care in New Jersey does not depend on your income, your zip code, your immigration, or your insurance status.”

The rule-making process requires the state to advertise a 60-day comment period, during which opponents and supporters could submit written statements.

Marie Tasy, executive director for New Jersey Right to Life, said she would be submitting a comment to challenge the board’s “false assertions, which are based on biased studies.”

“The NJ Board of Medical Examiners has clearly forfeited their credibility as an independent agency whose paramount responsibility is to protect the public’s health, safety and welfare,” Tasy said. “The rules certainly don’t protect women, but instead protect those who shamefully seek to make a profit from the bodies of women and the death of innocent children.”