To the Editor:

As a rising senior in high school, planning for my future and beginning to make my own choices, having the autonomy to decide what is the best path forward for myself is paramount. So to watch the end of protections for abortions, be it from the Supreme Court, or from numerous state legislatures in their efforts to ban and criminalize abortion (according to the Guttmacher Institute, nearly half the states could be in this boat), is frightening because it is the stripping away of the basic freedom to choose and have bodily autonomy, autonomy that is so critical to planning our futures.

Therefore I am immensely grateful to our state legislature for passing both A-3975/S-2633 and A-3974/S-2642, bills that protect a patient’s reproductive medical records from scrutiny, and that prevent the extradition of anyone who comes to New Jersey seeking an abortion. By taking this critical step, they have protected the crucial autonomy and freedom for so many people.

However, we can’t just stop in New Jersey, we must also look more broadly. Urge your lawmakers to pass laws that broaden access to reproductive health care services and that recodify Roe into our national existence. We may see this as not our problem, but until we secure the right of reproductive health care access and autonomy for everyone in this country, it is not safe.   

Thara Ellsworth
Glenview Drive