The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), codified at N.J. Rev. Stat. § 10:5-1 et seq., establishes a broad anti-discrimination framework across employment, housing, public accommodations, and other public settings.
Under New Jersey Public Law 2017, Chapter 176, discrimination in health insurance coverage and public employee benefit plans on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, or transgender status is prohibited.
Section 10:5-4 of New Jersey Revised Statutes states that all individuals have the right to obtain employment, to access public accommodations, secure housing accomodations, and to engage in other real property transactions without discrimination. The statute prohibits unequal treatment on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital or familial status, affectional or sexual orientation, sex, gender identity or expression, disability, liability for military service, nationality, or lawful source of income.
New Jersey Revised Statutes § 10:7-2 affirms that every individual in the state has a fundamental right to make personal decisions about their reproductive health. This includes the right to use or decline contraception, to continue a pregnancy and give birth, or to terminate a pregnancy. The statute guarantees that these choices belong to the individual, and not to the government, and it protects access to both contraception and abortion services as part of that right.
N.J. Rev. Stat. § 17:23A-13.3 prohibits insurers and their agents from releasing personal or privileged information about a person’s status as a victim of domestic violence or about an employer of a victim of domestic violence, except under specific conditions. Disclosure is allowed only with the individual’s written consent, by court order, or when necessary for limited operational purposes such as claim processing or compliance with legal requirements.
Section 18A:33-30 requires all New Jersey school districts to provide free menstrual products, including tampons and sanitary pads, in at least half of the female and gender-neutral restrooms in schools serving students in grades 6 through 12. The State bears the financial responsibility for supplying and maintaining these products. The law is implemented through administrative compliance under the Department of Education rather than through criminal penalties, ensuring equitable access to menstrual hygiene for students across public secondary schools.
New Jersey Revised Statutes § 18A:35-4.20 requires that any public school sex education program emphasize abstinence as the only completely reliable means to prevent pregnancy and to avoid HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The statute does not prohibit broader instruction on reproductive health, but it mandates that abstinence remain the central message of such programs.
New Jersey Revised Statutes § 18A:36-41 requires the New Jersey Commissioner of Education to issue statewide guidance to local school districts to ensure a safe and nondiscriminatory educational environment for transgender and gender-nonconforming students. The law directs schools to adopt policies that respect student privacy, maintain confidentiality of records, and use student-asserted names and pronouns.
Any discrimination based on sex in the hiring, compensation, promotion, and employment conditions of teachers and other personnel in all publicly funded schools, colleges, and universities is prohibited under New Jersey Revised Statutes § 18A:6-6. The statute mandates equal treatment in wage scales and employment practices, ensuring that sex cannot be used as a basis for differential pay or job opportunity within the state’s educational institutions.
Under New Jersey Revised Statutes § 2A:65A-6 it is unlawful for any physician or health care provider to perform a partial-birth abortion, defined as the partial vaginal delivery of a living fetus before deliberately causing fetal death. There is an exception, when the procedure is necessary to save the life of the pregnant person whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, an illness, or an injury.
