NJ Democrats abandon drive for abortion constitutional amendment in 2023. Here's why l Stile

Following the surprising strength of the abortion issue during the midterm contests, New Jersey Democratic leaders seized on what seems to be a slam-dunk issue for the 2023 elections, when all 120 seats of the Legislature will be up for grabs.

The plan: ask voters next November to approve a constitutional guarantee of reproductive rights in New Jersey.

It was an advantage that the Democrats could not ignore, an instant vote-magnet in a blue, pro-choice state like New Jersey. The same voters infuriated and frightened this fall by the anti-abortion Trump Republicans could be inspired to return to the polls next year, helping boost turnout for Democrats in otherwise low-voltage legislative races.

But Democratic leaders, facing surprising and unified pressure from abortion rights advocates and a limited window for the necessary legislative approval by the end of this year, canceled the effort Sunday.

"Although we strongly considered a proposal to amend the Constitution within the next year to further strengthen protections, after many conversations with stakeholders, we have decided that now is not the appropriate time," Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz said in a joint statement.

A Democratic divide

The strong opposition from advocates exposed a fault line within the New Jersey Democratic Party. That line stands between the party's established, centrist leadership, whose top priority will be to win and retain majority rule, and one of the party's loyal grassroots constituencies, whose members are pressing the party leaders to use the power they already they have to broaden abortion rights.

The amendment idea emerged as an intriguing strategic option for Democrats, who are feeling a measure of anxiety after Republicans flipped seven legislative seats in 2021. Compounding the concern is that a new legislative map gives the Republicans a fighting chance to reclaim control of the Legislature for the first time since the late 1990s.

But abortion advocates say there is no need to rush through a complicated and monumental amendment in a final, end-of-the-year sprint in order to win legislative approval — a first and crucial step before getting it placed on next November's ballot. They argue that the state Supreme Court has already affirmed the right to an abortion in cases over the past 40 years, and those protections were codified in a landmark state law enacted last January.

"While there are, of course, other states that may need to amend their constitution, to create the right to an abortion, New Jersey isn't in that situation," said Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, on Friday "It wouldn't necessarily create anything new for us."

The decision to scrap the amendment push for this year was first reported by the New Jersey Globe, a political website.

Detractors of the proposed ballot question also insisted that a constitutional amendment would distract lawmakers from their primary goal, which is to expand abortion access under existing law. Among the goals would be to enact some of the provisions that were stripped out of last year's codification bill — the Reproductive Freedom Act. Among the goals is a provision requiring health insurance companies to provide coverage for abortion services.

"I think there's the real potential that it sucks the oxygen out of the room and it becomes the only thing that people want to work on,'' said Jackie Cornell, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey.

"From our perspective, access is the name of the game. We have the rights already here in New Jersey. And so, if a constitutional amendment includes access issues, like funding, things like that, then that's a different dynamic, but as I've been told, that's not on the table,'' she said.

In an interview Friday, Cornell also expressed concerns that a political battle over a constitutional amendment would be costly and divert resources that could be better spent on delivering health care services to New Jersey clients. Some $57 million poured into Michigan this fall over an abortion referendum. The bulk of the money came from progressive advocacy groups.

"Let's say, ballpark, it's $20 million,'' she said, estimating what it would cost to drum up public support in New Jersey for the initiative. "How many health centers can I open with that much money?"

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The clock is ticking

The measure faced a difficult legislative calendar.

To reach next November's ballot, the measure would have had to win legislative approval. There were two ways to do that. The quick route would have been to have it pass it with three-fifths support of the Legislature next year, a move that would have required strong bipartisan support. Republicans already declared that they had no intention of providing the votes.

“While Democrats have not shared their proposal publicly, we should oppose their effort on both moral and scientific grounds if it seeks to enshrine in our constitution the extreme idea that abortion should be legal right up until birth," Senate Minority Leader Steve Oroho, R-Sussex, said in a statement.

That left Democrats with a second, longer route: winning a simple majority in both houses in two consecutive years. That meant they would have needed to win approval by the end of this year. But to do that, the measure would first have had to sit on legislators' desks for 20 days once it was introduced, and then face a public hearing.

That meant a very tight schedule to meet during the holiday season. Sinha, of the ACLU, said it left little time for the careful inspection and debate that such a critical step requires.

"Any time you introduce new language into the constitution, you've got to get it right," he said. "And it requires a careful deliberative process involving legal scholars and constitutional experts to ensure that it will safeguard existing rights without adding restrictions or creating limitations to future protections."

Yet, given the surprising role that abortion played in the midterm election — it was the single most important issue for a quarter of all voters and for a third of women under age 50, according to an exit poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation — Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald said the party has an obligation to try.

"This is an issue that just went through a national campaign and got worldwide attention," he said Friday. "And everybody's talking about it."

Greenwald added, "So I don't think it's unreasonable to have this conversation, in light of what is at stake."

But by Sunday, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin also pulled the plug on the idea.

"While we were open to advancing a new ballot question on reproductive rights before the end of the year, advocacy groups like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have asked us to hold off for the time being, particularly with battles occurring in other states where reproductive rights are at immediate risk," he said in a joint statement with Assemblywoman Lisa Swain.

Charlie Stile is a veteran political columnist. For his insight on New Jersey politics and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com

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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Abortion NJ: Can it drive voters in the 2023 state election?