Legislative Responses to Discrimination in Women's Health Care: A Report Prepared for the Commission to Study Sex Discrimination in the Statutes
![handle is hein.journals/worts16 and id is 161 raw text is: Legislative Responses to Discrimination
in Women's Health Care: A Report
Prepared for the Commission to Study
Sex Discrimination in the Statutes
CAROLINE W. JACOBUS*
I. INTRODUCTION
The New Jersey Commission on Sex Discrimi-
nation in the Statutes was established, when Gover-
nor Brendan T. Byrne signed P.L. 1978, c.68, on
July 6, 1978. The Commission, composed of
eleven legislative, executive and community mem-
bers and assisted by a three person staff, was au-
thorized to conduct a thorough review of all statutes
containing sex-based classifications to determine
their relevance to contemporary standards of equal-
ity and to propose a comprehensive modernization
and revision of those statutes. The Commission
was adjourned by order of Governor Christine Todd
Whitman on January 10, 1995.
During the past sixteen years, the Commission
researched, held public hearings and issued exten-
sive reports on issues of gender equity including:
Sex Discrimination in the Employment Statutes
(1979); Sex Discrimination in Marriage and Fam-
ily Law (1981); Toward Economic Equity: Recom-
mendations for the Elimination of Sex Discrimina-
tion in the Credit, Housing, Insurance, Pension,
Probate, Property, Public Obligations and Tax
Statutes (1985); Sex Discrimination in Corrections
(1989); Sex Discrimination in Education (1991);
and Legislative Responses to Violence Against Wo-
men (1995). The Commission also established a
task force to eliminate wage discrimination in state
employment. It subsequently issued a report and
supporting legislation which prompted the New
Jersey State Legislature to correct some of the
grossest forms of wage discrimination among State
employees.
In addition, the Commission developed and in-
troduced extensive legislation addressing gender in-
equity in the statutes some of which achieved na-
tional recognition and served as the model for
federal legislation such as the Family Leave Act of
1990 and the Prevention of Domestic Violence Acts
of 1981 and 1991. The issues addressed by the
Commission include the 1983 and 1990 amend-
ments to the New Jersey Parentage Act, legislation
dealing with child care licensing, child support, ter-
mination of parental rights, provisions for adequate
health care to incarcerated females, enhanced pen-
alties for patrons of child prostitutes, rape shield
laws, custody decisions in abusive homes, and un-
employment benefits for victims of sexual harass-
ment. The Commission also offered testimony,
supplied legal, and policy guidance about gender
equity to legislators, governmental agencies and ad-
visory groups, women's organizations, and commu-
*M.S.W., former Director of Research, Commission to Study
Sex Discrimination in the Statutes.
The Women's Rights Law Reporter disclaims the accuracy of
the information contained in footnotes marked with an asterisk
(*). Please contact the author directly for information on these
footnotes.
[Women's Rights Law Reporter, Volume 16, Number 3, Spring 1995]
© 1995 by Women's Rights Law Reporter, Rutgers-The State University
0085-8269/80/0908](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/worts16&div=17&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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