Frank Pallone

Ahead of a looming deadline to turn over abortion-related data to federal investigators, one Democratic congressman from New Jersey says the state shouldn’t comply.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone held a virtual roundtable with reproductive health advocates on Tuesday to discuss an investigation launched in March by the Trump administration into New Jersey and 12 other states. The probe alleges the states violated a federal law that protects employers and insurance companies from being forced to provide abortion access or services if it violates their personal beliefs.

New Jersey was given 20 days to respond to a request for data as part of the probe, according to a March 19 letter from the Health and Human Services’ Office on Civil Rights stating it had launched a “compliance review of New Jersey’s mandate that health insurance plans provide coverage for abortions.”

The response date has since been extended to May 8, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Pallone said Tuesday the request for data was a case of federal overreach.

“We have no intention of supporting this rogue investigation by HHS and the Trump administration,” said Pallone, who represents parts of Middlesex and Monmouth counties. “We’re not going to stand for this idea that they can now interfere with what states want to do with their own residents.”

The investigation centers around the Weldon Amendment, which prevents states from receiving certain federal funds if they discriminate against health insurance plans, medical professionals or facilities that refuse to “provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.”

Federal investigators take particular issue with a state regulation enacted in 2024, which requires health insurance carriers and employers to “provide coverage without limit or exclusion for abortion services,” except in the case of a religious employers.

The law allows exemptions for religious employers, although they aren’t permitted to exclude coverage for treatment “necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother,” or for “a victim of rape or incest.”

Since New Jersey law does allow for exemptions, the Trump administration has no basis for its investigation, said Jenifer Groves, president and CEO of the New Jersey Family Planning League.

“I think it underscores how much of a bogus investigation this is. It’s made to scare, to frighten a provider and health care organizations into being too afraid to cover, or to recommend or to refer,” said Groves during Tuesday’s roundtable.

The investigation is just the latest attack on abortion rights from a federal administration “hellbent on eliminating access to reproductive health care,” said Sarah Best, legislative and policy director at Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey.

“We’re in a fight for our survival, not just for Planned Parenthood health centers, but for everyone’s ability to access high quality, affordable health care, no matter how much money they make or who they are,” said Best.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill has condemned the investigation as “a fishing expedition wasting taxpayers’ money.”