Advocates warn New Jersey law could criminalize prayer outside abortion clinics

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Aug. 20 signed a bill that criminalizes “interference” with “reproductive” or “gender-affirming” care, a law that opponents say has serious implications for freedom of speech.

The law criminalizes inflicting “emotional harm” against those seeking or providing “reproductive health care services.” It also bans filming and sharing videos within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.

Under the new law, an officer can “order the immediate dispersal of a gathering that substantially impedes access to or departure from an entrance or driveway to a reproductive or gender-affirming health care facility during the business hours of the facility.”

The measure is a type of “bubble” law, which creates zones around abortion clinics where free speech is limited in “buffer zones.”

Violations of the law could be punished by up to 18 months’ imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine.

New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy criticized the law, describing its provisions as “inherently subjective” and the law itself as “a serious danger to free speech.”

“Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, or simply offering help and alternatives outside…