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A2221 would compel every New Jersey public college and university to build abortion referral infrastructure into its official health services plan, entangling public institutions in the provision and promotion of abortion against their mission and conscience.
OUR POSITIONA2221 was introduced on January 13, 2026, and referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee. If enacted, it would require every four-year public institution of higher education in New Jersey to develop and implement a reproductive health services plan that must, among other things, make available on-campus services or referrals for abortion. (Section 3(b)(1)(d)) It would separately require every county college to develop a referral network of verified health care professionals, facilities, and pharmacies providing off-campus reproductive health care services, including abortion, in its county. (Section 4) The American Council opposes this bill and urges every legislator to vote against it.
The bill's Section 6 carve-out states that no public institution is required to be a direct provider of reproductive health care services, including abortion. But this carve-out does not protect institutional conscience in any meaningful way. An institution may escape direct provision while still being legally compelled to build, verify, and annually update (Section 3(c)) a referral network that connects students to abortion providers. (Section 3(b)(4)) In our view, mandating abortion referral infrastructure is not a neutral administrative requirement. It makes every covered institution an active participant in directing students toward abortion, regardless of that institution's values or the values of its community.
The bill defines abortion broadly to include medication abortion and early aspiration abortion. (Section 2) It defines pregnancy as beginning with implantation of a fertilized egg. (Section 2) We believe human life deserves protection and dignity from its earliest stages, and a bill that treats referral to abortion as a routine institutional obligation on par with prenatal care and STI testing reflects a set of moral assumptions that public universities should not be compelled to institutionalize. Embedding abortion referral into a mandated, annually updated plan (Section 3(c)) and into Secretary-developed guidelines (Section 5(a)) normalizes abortion as a baseline government-directed service, which we firmly oppose.
The American Council calls on every member of the New Jersey Legislature to defeat A2221. No amendment can cure the bill's core requirement that public institutions become organized referral points for abortion. The bill should not advance out of committee, should not receive a floor vote, and should not become law. We urge constituents to contact their legislators today and make that message clear.
A2221 was introduced on January 13, 2026, and referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee, where it currently sits without a scheduled hearing. The bill supplements rather than amends existing statute, meaning no existing protections are struck, but new mandates are added on top of current law. Its introduction early in the session and its referral to a policy committee rather than a fiscal committee suggest sponsors are building a record and seeking coalition support before pushing for a vote. Constituent contact directed at Higher Education Committee members carries the most weight right now, before the bill receives a hearing or moves to the floor.