Abortion not included in Murphy’s ban on elective procedures (Opinion)

This week NJ Gov. Phil Murphy signed executive order 109 which temporarily bans elective surgeries during the COVID-19 outbreak. Beginning Friday March 27 at 5:00 pm, such procedures cannot take place as long as it doesn’t cause undue harm to the patient. This even covers dental procedures.

“Our new reality calls for aggressive action to reduce the burden on our healthcare system and protect our frontline medical responders.”

Exempt from the ban? Abortions.

From the executive order:

“Nothing in this Order shall be construed to limit access to the full range of family planning services and procedures, including terminations of pregnancies”

This isn’t sitting well at all with New Jersey Right To Life, an anti-abortion group. Their executive director Marie Tasy put out the following statement in response:

“Governor Murphy’s Executive Order exempting abortion during this global pandemic defies logic and is highly irresponsible. 97% of all abortions are elective procedures. Both our state and nation are rightfully lamenting and tracking the daily loss of human lives from COVID-19 and taking extraordinary measures to flatten the curve. Vital medical supplies and precious resources which already are in short supply need to be preserved for our hospitals and health care workers to be able to fight against COVID-19.

We call on Governor Murphy to reverse this action immediately so that valuable resources can instead be utilized for urgent health care needs that will actually help save human lives and mitigate human suffering.”

Will we be so naive to take at face value all this group cares about is COVID-19? This group is solely focused on stopping abortion and would like nothing more than a full overturning of Roe v. Wade, and they hoped this was at least a temporary opportunity for them.

No matter your feelings on abortion, the fact is it is a legal procedure, and unlike other elective procedures one that cannot be put off for very long for obvious reasons. Despite how you may feel about abortion, while it is still legal Murphy was correct in his exemption.

More from New Jersey 101.5