Opinion: Coming Soon to a New Jersey Statehouse Near You?

This past weekend I attended a rally for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate state Senator Barbara Buono -- well-attended for a Saturday event in July, with more than 100 residents at which she called her opponent, Gov. Chris Christie, “rabidly anti-choice.” 

Even I noted her strong words. On Sunday I read Tom Moran’s column in the Star Ledger in which he says that if Christie is able to take control of the Senate in November, “he is off to the races on taxes, abortion, and anything else that appeals to Iowa Republicans.”

As a pro-choice woman, who strongly believes that reproductive decisions must be made by women and their families, I am increasingly alarmed at events in the South and Southwest and fear that this anti-woman sentiment might move north. I am appalled that legislators are changing the rules for women -- clearly signaling that women are not smart enough, or can’t be trusted enough, to make their own choices. When to become a parent should be decided by each woman, not by men in government office buildings.

Case in point, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s signing of a package of laws that will drastically reduce access to abortion across his state. Most of the bills are meant to make it hard for clinics to comply with the law because of requirements, such as admitting privileges for doctors at local hospitals and the width of the hallways. 

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