Legislation to Challenge 2022 Law Mandating Demographic Surveys
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Montvale NJ, a New Jersey state senator is pushing back against a hospital questionnaire that asks for demographic details—including sexual orientation—for newborn babies.
State Sen. Holly Schepisi, who represents 23 Bergen County towns, announced she will introduce legislation to rescind the requirement, which stems from a 2022 state law (A-4385) aimed at collecting demographic data in healthcare settings.
Why Are Hospitals Asking About a Baby’s Sexual Orientation?
The law, passed by New Jersey’s Democrat-controlled legislature, mandates that hospitals, labs, and medical providers collect information on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. However, no age restrictions were specified, meaning that newborns are receiving the same form as adults.
Sen. Schepisi took to social media to call the situation “completely and utterly insane.”
“Yesterday, it came to my attention that medical providers, laboratories, and hospitals are being forced to provide this questionnaire to NEWBORN patients,” she posted. “I will be sponsoring legislation immediately to rescind this absurd requirement, which is a waste of medical professionals’ time and resources.”
Public Outrage Sparks Legislative Action
The issue came to light after a South Jersey hospital patient posted the newborn questionnaire on social media, sparking widespread criticism. Schepisi confirmed that the form was real and shared it herself.
One commenter, who originally posted the form, wrote:
“I was shocked to open my third-trimester packet at my midwifery and find this. I’m working on emailing our representatives about it. I’m so glad it made its way to your lap already.”
NJ Department of Health Responds
A spokesperson for the NJ Department of Health, Dalya Eweis, clarified that while hospitals must ask for demographic information, they should do so in a “clinically appropriate and culturally competent manner.”
She stated:
“The statute does not contain any patient exclusions or age limitations, but it also does not prevent hospitals from exercising discretion. Hospitals should develop internal policies based on clinical advice to ensure the appropriate collection of such data.”
What’s Next?
Sen. Schepisi is moving forward with legislation to remove the mandate for newborns, arguing that the law lacks common sense and wastes medical resources.
🚨 What do you think? Should hospitals be required to ask these questions for newborns? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
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Valley has been pulling the same s*** on their questionnaires about sex and pronouns for years
democrats are mentally ill yet the morons here vote for them
name ONE thing spartacus has done for NJ
Hospitals should ask NOBODY about their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity UNLESS it is relevant to the medical care that they are receiving.
GTFOut of my business.
On the other end of the life, Sen Schepesi needs to tackle the problem with ageism in hospitals concerning the lack of treatment to elderly patients because of age and age alone not the illness, age discrimination towards the elderly!
We don’t have the money to just throw it away on lost causes.
Like you?
It’s very simple it’s either you’re a boy or a girl there’s no other
The NJ Department of Health needs to be DOGE’d. These folks have too much time on their hands, and WAY too many employees.