Bill Text: NJ A1941 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes rebuttable presumption of lack of personal jurisdiction over New Jersey resident in civil action under Texas abortion ban law 2021 Tex. SB8, 87th Regular Session ch. 62.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-11 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee [A1941 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A1941-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
220th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman LISA SWAIN
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes rebuttable presumption of lack of personal jurisdiction over New Jersey resident in civil action under Texas abortion ban law 2021 Tex. SB 8, 87th Regular Session ch. 62.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the enforcement of 2021 Tex. SB 8, 87th Regular Session ch. 62 in New Jersey and supplementing P.L.1997, c.204 (C.2A:49A-25 et seq).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. In an enforcement action under section 1 of P.L.1997, c.204 (C.2A:49A-25 et seq.), to enforce an order under 2021 Tex. SB 8, 87th Regular Session ch. 62, known as the "Texas Heartbeat Act," in New Jersey, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the rendering state lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant at the time of the action was brought.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
2021 Texas Senate Bill 8, enacted in the State of Texas on May 19, 2021 as Tex. SB 8, 87th Regular Session ch. 62, bans abortions in the State of Texas after six weeks into a pregnancy. Section 171.208 of the law permits enforcement by private citizens, including bringing an action against someone who "aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion. Statutory relief includes damages in an amount not less than $10,000, costs and attorney fees. The law does not impose limits on persons against whom an enforcement action may be brought.
Like the federal courts interpreting the federal Constitution, New Jersey courts interpreting the State Constitution have intimated that the right to choose an abortion under the State Constitution is unassailable when necessary to preserve the mother's life or health regardless of fetal viability. Yet, unlike the federal courts, New Jersey courts have not indicated that a woman's right to choose under the State Constitution may be limited in cases where the fetus is viable and the woman's life or health are not endangered by the pregnancy.
In light of the manner in which the Texas law contravenes the broad privacy and liberty protections afforded to women under the New Jersey Constitution and case law, and the privacy protections afforded under the federal constitution and embodied in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), this bill would establish a rebuttable presumption of lack of jurisdiction over the defendant in an action brought under section 171.208 of 2021 Tex. SB 8, 87th Regular Session ch. 62, against a New Jersey resident.
