A groundbreaking bill adds New Jersey to a short list of shield states to criminalize physical interference with reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare—at a moment when the federal government has initiated attacks on both.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a law Thursday establishing the nation’s strongest physical protections for gender-affirming care patients and providers, while expanding legal safeguards for reproductive healthcare access. The law, which passed both houses of the legislature in June, is a comprehensive shield law and state FACE Act corollary, joining suit with a growing state-led movement to enshrine protections for patients and providers.
A Response to Federal Attacks
After assuming office in 2025, the Trump administration eviscerated enforcement of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act protecting abortion clinics, staff and patients. Then, the administration launched unprecedented attacks on the transgender community. In response, Democratic-led states are beginning to look at new ways to safeguard abortion and gender-affirming healthcare providers and patients. Some states already have FACE laws protecting abortion clinics, providers and patients from threats, obstruction, intimidation and violence. And several states enacted shield laws to protect patients and providers of reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare from criminal, civil and professional prosecutions for providing health care to individuals from states where that healthcare is banned or restricted.
New Jersey combines both mechanisms of protections. Already a shield state for abortion, New Jersey’s laws protect patients and providers from out-of-state prosecution, extradition and investigations. The new law strengthens these protections and reaffirms the confidentiality of patient-provider relationships while also creating strong safeguards for the physical safety of clinics, providers and patients.
States such as Massachusetts and Oregon have been pioneers in enshrining protections for both reproductive and gender-affirming care following the Dobbs decision. Oregon passed an omnibus bill in 2023 that contained dozens of protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care, covering shield provisions and physical protections in one law. New Jersey built upon this precedent, establishing stricter criminal penalties and expressly prohibiting interference with services that “support a person’s alignment with their gender identity or expression.”
With Sherrill’s signature, New Jersey has established some of the nation’s strongest legal protections for reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare access, reinforcing the bulwark built by Democratic-led states to shield women and the LGBTQ+ community.
‘We Must Go the Extra Mile’
“I never imagined we would need a law to protect doctors from arrest for doing their job or shield parents from harassment for getting their child medical care. But at a time when this country is going against the grain in ways we could not have foreseen, we must go the extra mile to protect every person’s freedom to make decisions about their own body, health, and future,” Senate Majority Leader Ruiz (Essex/Hudson) said in May. “This bill sends a clear message that in New Jersey, patients deserve access to the care they need, and no provider should face punishment for offering lawful services.”
Physically obstructing or intimidating patients, providers, staff, or volunteers is now a felony in the state of New Jersey, with potential fines up to $150,000 and decade-long prison sentences if serious injuries result. The law marks a major victory for LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights groups after years of advocating for stronger protections. Gov. Sherrill signed the bill at a ceremony at a Planned Parenthood in Montclair alongside the lawmakers and groups that championed the legislation, including the Transgender Rights Coalition of New Jersey and Garden State Equality.
Trenton City Council member Jennifer Williams—the first transgender individual elected to a municipal council in New Jersey—emphasized the importance of the bill to “protect the young, the adults like me, and our senior citizens who are transgender.” Parents of transgender children gave impassioned speeches at hearings for the bill, testifying that gender-affirming care has allowed their children to thrive.
A Community Under Attack
The legislation comes at a critical moment amid the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on the transgender community. From the beginning of his second term, Trump rescinded multiple Biden-era executive orders that protected LGBTQ+ populations, among them “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation” Exec. Order No. 13988 and “Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals” Exec. Order No. 14075. The result has been a massive divestment in LGBTQ+ health data collection, advocacy, and policy protections.
More than half of states now have laws that restrict youth access to gender-affirming care. Of the nation’s 724,000 self-identified transgender youth, 38 percent live in states where medically necessary healthcare is banned. In New Jersey, after pressure to cut such services for individuals under 19, several major healthcare systems notified patients last year that they would be rolling back gender-affirming care services in their hospitals, fearing backlash from the Trump administration. In response to public outcry this July, the Trump administration decided against carrying out the threat to revoke Medicare and Medicaid funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to youth.
Melissa, the chief administrator at Garden State Gynecology, shared her thoughts on the new law with Ms. “I am so proud to be part of the reproductive healthcare community in New Jersey. Our primary goal is to continue providing safe, legal, and compassionate care to women, regardless of their state of residence. While the federal government and many other states have turned their back on women’s reproductive rights, New Jersey continues to be a safe haven for patients seeking abortion care.”
“Delay is Harm”
Despite setbacks, a broad coalition of organizations lobbied for the law’s passage in the state legislature. Republican lawmakers claimed the bill would impede antiabortion protesters’ ability to dissuade patients outside of clinics. Louise Walpin, cofounder of the Transgender Rights Coalition, expressed the urgency of the legislation to the crowd at a rally in Trenton: “Our healthcare is not optional. Delay is not neutrality. Delay is collaborating with hate. Delay is harm.”
“This bill is needed to strengthen New Jersey’s existing shield protections and respond to the current reality of legal attacks on patients and providers,” said Sarah Best, the legislative and policy director for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, in an interview with the New Jersey Monitor ahead of the June vote.
Sherrill’s signing bolsters her strong record of support for abortion access. Earlier this year, when Trump began an investigation into New Jersey and 12 other states for requiring health insurance providers to cover abortion, Sherrill denounced the investigation: “I will fight tooth and nail to defend and protect New Jerseyans’ abortion rights against attacks from Donald Trump, or anyone else.”
