Ultrasound Licensing Requirement for Pregnancy Centers

S2214 supplements Title 45 of the New Jersey Revised Statutes by adding a new provision -- effective immediately upon enactment -- that targets a specific category of organizations serving pregnant women. The American Council opposes this bill and urges every legislator to vote against it.

Section 1(a) states: "The performance of any ultrasound on a pregnant woman in a limited service pregnancy center shall be performed by a health care professional whose scope of practice includes performing ultrasounds." The requirement is absolute and applies to any ultrasound performed at a covered organization, with no exception for informational or non-diagnostic use.

Section 1(b) defines "health care professional" as a person licensed or otherwise authorized pursuant to Title 45 or Title 52 of the Revised Statutes to practice a health care profession regulated by the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs or by one of the professional licensing boards located thereunder. The definition turns entirely on licensure under those two titles and the regulatory structures beneath the Division of Consumer Affairs.

The same subsection defines "limited service pregnancy center" as an organization -- including a pregnancy counseling organization or crisis pregnancy center -- that for a fee or free of charge provides pregnancy counseling or information, but does not perform abortions or make referrals to an abortion provider, and is not licensed or certified by this State or the federal government to provide medical or health care services. All three conditions (provides pregnancy counseling or information; does not perform abortions or make abortion referrals; and is not state- or federally licensed or certified to provide medical or health care services) must be present for an organization to fall within the definition. The bill then carves out from that definition -- and therefore from the ultrasound requirement entirely -- any health care provider, hospital, abortion clinic, or family planning clinic that performs abortions, provides contraception, or provides abortion or contraception referrals. The carve-out is triggered if the organization performs abortions, provides contraception, or provides abortion or contraception referrals; any one of those activities is sufficient to remove the organization from the bill's reach.

The bill specifies no penalty for noncompliance, names no enforcement agency, and creates no civil cause of action. Because the bill is silent on consequences, how violations would be detected or punished is left entirely to inference from existing law. An independent reader cannot determine from the text alone what sanction, if any, attaches to a violation. The American Council regards this ambiguity as a drafting deficiency, but it does not diminish our opposition to the bill's core requirement.

The practical target of this bill is the network of pregnancy resource centers that offer ultrasound services as part of their mission to support women in crisis pregnancies. These centers operate outside the state licensing framework by design: they provide life-affirming care and information rather than medical treatment, and they serve women who might not otherwise seek support. By defining the covered organizations specifically as those that are not licensed or certified by the state or federal government to provide medical or health care services, the bill singles out a ministry-driven model of care and imposes on it a credentialing requirement drawn from the licensed medical system. The American Council believes this is a direct effort to burden, and in many cases shut down, pregnancy resource centers that do not and should not need a medical license to offer compassionate, non-diagnostic support to pregnant women. We view this as an incursion on the freedom of faith-based and community organizations to serve their neighbors, and we ask every New Jersey legislator to oppose S2214 and prevent it from becoming law.