While abortion is a perennial campaign issue for political candidates from coast to coast to coast the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, New Jersey’s race to replace term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy is slim.
That’s partly because New Jersey leaders have enacted strong abortion protections since then, observers say. Abortion rights advocates rank New Jersey at or near the top when it comes to reproduction rights, while Murphy’s administration has declared the state a safe haven for those seeking or providing the process.
It’s also because both of New Jersey’s leading gubernatorial candidates have said they support abortion rights. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) said she supports current state protections that allow abortion without a gestational limit, while Jack Ciattarelli (R) supports the procedure up to 20 weeks. The two are vying for Murphy’s job on November 4, 2025.
Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, said affordability and taxes have increasingly trumped abortion as voters’ priorities, both in recent surveys and in last year’s general elections.
“I don’t really see an issue like abortion ending in these last few weeks,” Koning said. “At the end of the day, ‘It’s always the economy, stupid.’ That’s what New Jersey voters will care about when it comes to this Jersey-centric state election.”
Advocates on both sides of the reproductive rights fight agree the abortion landscape could be very different in New Jersey under a Republican governor, with Ciattarelli pledging to defund Planned Parenthood, fund anti-abortion pregnancy centers, require parental notification of minors seeking abortions and pass an account is now stalled in the New Jersey Statehouse that would have largely banned abortion after 20 weeks.
Abortion rights advocates fear that state government leanings could prevail and win over Ciattarelli. It has been more than 60 years since either party has won government three consecutive elections, as Sherrill is seeking to do this year.
“We’re preparing for any scenario, whether it’s Gov. Mikie Sherrill or Jack Ciattarelli is elected,” said Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. “We could be in for some really serious problems with Jack Ciatarelli as governor … for us, this is one of the most consequential elections, I will say, of my lifetime in terms of what the future of reproductive health access might look like in New Jersey, especially with the threats at the federal level.”
President Donald Trump and his administration have moved to barrier Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood; be forgiven anti-abortion activists charged with federal crimes for obstructing access to clinics and he threatened access to birth control, among other things.
Where the candidates are
Sherrill has been a consistent supporter of abortion rights, appearing at rallies and press conferences to support reproductive rights, introducing legislation in Congress to protect military access to abortion and in vitro fertilization (IVF), and consistently voting to maintain access to abortion.
Asked by New Jersey screen If he supports any restrictions on the procedure, he said, “That’s a decision that should be made between a woman and her doctor.”
“I’m pro-choice,” he said.
Sherrill voted twice for the Women’s Health Protection Act, which ultimately failed but would have codified the abortion rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade. If elected governor, Sherrill said she would move to include abortion rights in the New Jersey Constitution.
“Jack wants to ban abortion. He’s also in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood. All of these things can lead to worse and worse health for women in our state,” Cheryl said. “I think what we really need is a constitutional protection, so no matter who the governor is, women are protected in our state.”
A spokesman for the Ciattarelli campaign ran it New Jersey screen on its website, which says the decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy is “deeply personal” and “should be between a woman, her partner, her faith and her health professionals.”
But Ciattarelli also said he supports repealing the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, the state law of 2022 that coded abortion rights in New Jersey and passage of the Unborn Child Pain Protection Act, a bill introduced in every legislative session since 2016 that would ban abortion after 20 weeks, except in cases of rape or incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger. New Jersey is one of nine states that allow abortion at any point in pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
At a town hall in southern New Jersey last month, Ciattarelli referred to abortion in response to a question about the rights parents have over their children’s health care decisions. He said he would ban people under 18 from getting abortions without parental consent.
“Here in the state of New Jersey, a kid can’t get their ears pierced if they’re under 18 without what? Permission from their parents,” he said. “We’re going to have 15- and 16-year-olds getting abortions and the parents aren’t going to be notified? I’ve yet to find even the most liberal person who agrees with that policy position.”
He has also echoed the Trump administration’s calls to defund Planned Parenthood, saying he opposes using public funds for abortion and would redirect that money to anti-abortion pregnancy centers. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s administration remains locked in a legal battle with a group of these centers, which they have challenged state investigation about whether they use misleading advertising to lure pregnant patients who may be considering abortion.
’20/20 Project’
Anti-abortion advocates gathered at the Statehouse in Trenton, the state capital, last month for the New Jersey March for Life.
The march was just 40 days before the general election, but most speakers did not mention the election or Ciattarelli. That didn’t surprise Marie Tasy, who heads New Jersey Right to Life.
“He says he’s pro-choice,” Tasy said New Jersey screen. Her team endorsed conservative radio host Bill Spadea in the GOP primary.
Brennan Coughlin, pastor of CrossPoint Fellowship Church in central New Jersey, said he is “disappointed” by Ciattarelli’s stance on abortion.
“I didn’t vote for him in the primary. I voted for Bill Spadea, who is much more outspoken and strong in protecting babies in the womb,” said Coughlin, a frequent attendee at anti-abortion rallies. “But I will certainly vote for Jack Ciattarelli, knowing that Mikie Sherrill would continue, from my perspective, Gov. Murphy’s policies that we do not support and strongly oppose.”
Michael D. Byrne sees these feelings as a failure of messaging, rather than a vacuum of excitement.
Byrne is a Republican and a member of the New Jersey Pro-Life Alliance, a group formed after the spring primary to mobilize voters on the abortion issue. They are planning an advertising campaign in the coming weeks to let anti-abortion voters know that Ciattarelli is their guy, Byrne said.
While some abortion critics oppose the procedure at any stage of pregnancy, the 20-week ban has proven tolerable enough in anti-abortion circles that a coalition of New Jersey advocates launched an effort in 2017 called 20/20 Project to push for such a ban by 2020.
“It’s one of those 80/20 positions in politics where the vast majority of voters, when they have time to think about late-term versus early-term abortion, agree that there should be some limits,” Byrne said. (Editor’s note: Typically, Rewire News Group’Its policy is to describe abortions at 24 weeks and later as “late abortions” because “late abortion” is is not an accepted medical term. Here, we have retained the language in the quote for clarity.)
Byrne has much more enthusiasm for Ciattarelli than Tasy and Coughlin.
“We’re excited to finally have a candidate who is a serious candidate — who is likely to win, I think, at this point — and who will stand up for the 20-week bill, as well as other common sense things like parental notification and ending taxpayer funding for abortion,” Byrne said.
Abortion rights advocates hope that the schism in the anti-abortion community will help reduce Ciattarelli’s chances.
Wojtowicz said undecided voters need only look to the tenure of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for a reminder of what the state could look like under Ciatarelli. Christie repeatedly vetoed family planning fundingwhich led at least six clinics to close. Beyond abortions, such clinics also offer patients screening for sexually transmitted infections and cancer, as well as preventive services, including birth control, Wojtowicz said.
“We’ve been here before and we know what we could expect under Ciattarelli’s tenure. It would be disastrous for public health,” he said.
Jeanne LoCicero, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said the next governor should not meddle in bodily autonomy issues.
“Everyone should be able to get the reproductive health care they need, including abortion care, and they should be able to get that care when they need it and without the interference of politicians,” LoCicero said. “So New Jersey should enact protections for patients seeking abortion and other reproductive care, not put up barriers. These are decisions that should be made with patients and doctors, not by lawmakers.”
This story originally reported by Dana DiFilippo for the New Jersey screen on October 8, 2025. New Jersey screen is part of State Newsroom, a nonprofit grant-supported news network and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey screen maintains editorial independence. Contact Publisher Terrence T. McDonald with questions: [email protected].
