New Jersey's strong abortion laws aren't enough for the top Democrats running for governor. Now, they want to change the state Constitution to explicitly include abortion rights.
For Rep. Mikie Sherrill, considered the front-runner in the Democratic primary, amending the Constitution is among her most specific and consistent campaign promises. Rep. Josh Gottheimer added it to his campaign platform. And former Senate President Steve Sweeney claims to be the “first” candidate in the race to call for such a measure.
It’s a move that’s been debated at the Statehouse in recent years — but one that has not been endorsed by many legal experts and abortion-rights advocates in the state, some of whom call it “unnecessary.” Many abortion-rights supporters are instead prioritizing measures they say would increase abortion access.
Democrats’ focus on abortion rights — especially since the fall of Roe v. Wade — mitigated their losses in the 2022 midterms, yet zeroing in on it last year ended with a Republican trifecta in Washington. Running on abortion rights in a state where they are protected could test whether it is an issue that can still launch a Democrat to the governor’s mansion. The race is viewed as a bellwether for the 2026 midterms.
But some abortion-rights supporters caution that amending the state Constitution — which requires approval from voters — could make the state a focus for conservatives, with little gain for furthering legal protections for abortion. State law protects access to the procedure and the New Jersey Supreme Court has decades-long precedent that protects abortion rights under the state Constitution.
“I don’t want women in New Jersey to think that we don’t have a [state] constitutional right to abortion today, because we do," said civil rights attorney Nancy Erika Smith. Smith said she was a law student involved in one of the landmark state abortion cases, Right to Choose v. Byrne. “Honestly, I think it’s a little performative … The last thing we need is Elon Musk pumping $100 million in a ballot issue in New Jersey.”
Other Democratic candidates for governor contacted by POLITICO said they would support such a proposal, and a Democratic state lawmaker recently introduced legislation to start the process to amend the Constitution.
But legal experts and activists — like the ACLU of New Jersey, which is among the strongest supporters of abortion rights in the state — do not share the enthusiasm of Democratic candidates for an amendment.
“For 40 years, our state constitution has provided greater protections for abortion rights than federal law,” ACLU-NJ Deputy Policy Director Jim Sullivan said in a statement to POLITICO. “A state constitutional amendment that only maintains the status quo is unnecessary, and without a careful, deliberative process, a ballot measure risks creating uncertainty in the legal landscape and undermining existing rights.”
Loretta Weinberg, the former state Senate majority leader, who sponsored a 2022 law that codified abortion rights, said she “absolutely” agrees with the ACLU. “This is not the time for such a measure when our rights to abortion in NJ are fully protected under our laws,” she said in a text message.
The governor has no official role in changing the Constitution. To do so, the Democrat-run state Legislature must pass a resolution in two back-to-back years with a simple majority or in one year with a supermajority. Then the proposal must be approved by voters at the ballot box.
“I’d love to see a constitutional amendment for abortion on the ballot that the voters want,” Sherrill said during the first Democratic gubernatorial debate this year, when asked about allowing voters to put initiatives and referendumson the ballot.
Test of abortion as a winning issue
Voters in conservative states like Montana and Missouri have voted for abortion rights when it was featured as a ballot question — leading many to believe that it would pass easily in blue-leaning New Jersey. States like New York have also passed a constitutional amendment protecting abortion on top of existing state laws that allow for the procedure.
When Democrats outperformed expectations in the 2022 midterms, New Jersey Democrats consideredputting a constitutional amendment for abortion rights on the ballot for 2023, when the entire state Senate and Assembly was up for election. But the proposal fell apart due to a lack of support from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood.
When asked about a constitutional amendment for abortion now, Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood’s New Jersey affiliates, said the state has “some of the strongest abortion protections in the country.” The group did not rule out possibly supporting an amendment in the future, but for now is prioritizing a bill package that would expand access to abortion and reproductive rights.
“Now is the time for our legislative leaders to pass policy that reduces barriers to care,” Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, executive director at Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, said in a statement.
Some supporters of abortion rights think it is still a winning electoral issue, especially with Republicans holding a trifecta in Washington. Shortly after the 2024 election, EMILY’s List, a left-leaning group that went on to endorse Sherrill in the governor’s race, said in a memo that “abortion rights will only grow in salience for voters in elections.”
Sherrill is already using her support for a constitutional amendment to contrast herself with Republicans running for governor. In a statement to POLITICO, Sherrill said a constitutional amendment would “cement our rights and protect them from interferences of right-wing politicians like Jack Ciattarelli and Bill Spadea.” She cited the fall of Roe as an example of long-standing precedent being overturned, although, unlike federal law, New Jersey has abortion rights codified in its statutes.
“We thought our rights were safe, but the Trump Supreme Court pulled the rug out from under women everywhere when it weakened the right to privacy and allowed bans on abortion in large parts of the country,” Sherrill said. “We cannot let that happen here in New Jersey. A constitutional amendment is the best way to make sure we won’t be caught off guard again.”
On the campaign trail, Gottheimer and Sweeney have called for the amendment. Other Democrats running for governor — like Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller — said they would support a constitutional amendment when asked by POLITICO.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said he supports a constitutional amendment but underscored his support for the bill package Planned Parenthood supports, dubbed the Reproductive Freedom and Health Equity Bill Package.
“[W]omen in New Jersey already have that constitutional right, and political rhetoric should never create doubt about it,” Baraka said to POLITICO in a statement. “The real challenge isn’t just having the right, it’s ensuring that every woman, regardless of income or ZIP code, has full and equitable access to reproductive healthcare.”
Republicans not eager to scale back protections
The two top candidates in the GOP primary for governor have also not focused on scaling back abortion rights. Spadea, a conservative former radio host who was endorsed by the state’s leading anti-abortion group, said in an interview posted online that he doesn’t “see any foreseeable change in the future of taking away a woman's right to choose.”
Ciattarelli supports prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. During his 2021 run for governor, he also said he would codify abortion rights into state law if Roe were overturned.
Another GOP gubernatorial candidate, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, regularly describes himself as “pro-choice.”
In the Statehouse, top Democrats like Senate President Nick Scutari and Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz have expressed support for eventually amending the constitution to include abortion rights.
One Democratic state Assemblyman, Joe Danielsen, recently introduced a resolution guaranteeing “reproductive freedom” in the state constitution. Like Sherrill, he expressed concern that state Supreme Court precedent could one day be overturned.
Danielsen said in an interview he was approached by his constituents, like “very local groups and individual ladies,” for a constitutional amendment.
“This may move forward, it may not,” he said. “I hope we can further deepen the roots of protection for women and their reproductive rights. That's my only agenda here.”
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