Greg OwenAugust 21, 2026, 3:00 pm EDTNew Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) on Thursday signed a robust defense of transgender rights and women’s bodily autonomy, shielding individuals from out-of-state investigations over medical care associated with gender identity and abortion.“If Greg Abbott or Ron DeSantis tries to investigate someone who came to New Jersey to access care, we will protect anyone seeking care that is legal here in New Jersey from investigations in other states,” Sherrill said at a signing ceremony reported by the New Jersey Monitor.
The jab at the Republican governors of Texas and Florida comes after both have sought the medical records of residents or organizations seeking or providing abortions and gender-affirming care in their own states and others in pursuit of prosecuting them.
The expansive bill passed the New Jersey Assembly and Senate in June in party-line votes. It takes effect immediately.
Addressing both abortion and gender-affirming care in the same bill is the rare instance where Democrats have used transgender rights to their political advantage, building a broader indictment against the Trump administration and its enablers.
“This isn’t just about abortion. Republicans in Washington are trying to control people’s lives. That’s why the White House has relentlessly attacked our transgender community as well,” Sherrill said. “They’ve pulled tactics straight out of the Red Scare playbook to restrict transgender people’s healthcare.”
As well as protecting patients from out-of-state investigations, the law creates a new criminal charge for individuals in New Jersey who block access or intentionally intimidate those seeking gender-affirming or reproductive healthcare at facilities that provide it.
Patients and providers may also sue those who do so for damages, attorney fees, and other relief, a tactic employed by red state legislatures targeting transgender people using restrooms that align with their gender identity.
New Jersey is “a beacon of hope for everyone who understands democracy,” said state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D), a chief sponsor of the bill and the Senate’s majority leader. “You can’t tell us what we can read on a library shelf but want to be up in our uterus in an exam room,” she said.
The bill’s signing comes as the Trump administration scored a win this week in its effort to subpoena the records of a Washington State-based telehealth clinic that provides gender-affirming care. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Department of Justice administrative subpoena seeking the personal and confidential health records of trans youth who have used the service.
The department has issued at least 20 subpoenas to gender-affirming care providers in its anti-trans intimidation campaign. Challenges to the subpoenas have overwhelmingly prevailed, with judges labeling the efforts a “fishing expedition” intended to “harass” and “intimidate,” and to end gender-affirming care through “fear.”
Simone Kraus, a transgender woman from Sussex County, called the new law in New Jersey “a profound milestone.”
“As a trans woman who has walked this path, who knows the deeply personal and necessary journey of receiving gender-confirmation surgery, this hits home in a way policies and legal briefs rarely can capture,” she said. “New Jersey is making it clear today that what happens in a doctor’s office is strictly between the patients and the doctors. Politicians do not have a say.”
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Scottie's Playtime 
It is about dann time! Every state should have such a law, including red states. Laws should protect people, not condemn them.
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