Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Michigan Democrats held a press conference on Tuesday to announce future legislation that would undo current Michigan abortion laws.
Planned Parenthood Advocates for Michigan said the pending bill known as the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) would eliminate the state’s 1931 law banning many types of abortions, remove the parental consent rule for minors seeking an abortion and discard the 24-hour wait period patients must undergo before getting an abortion.
“The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) ensures access to safe, legal abortion in Michigan. It guarantees that people are free to make their own medical decisions without certain politicians interfering while repealing dozens of Michigan’s outdated abortion laws,” the Planned Parenthood’s RHA information page said.
Throughout the press conference, the governor and other speakers said “politics” should not be factors in women’s reproductive health care. Whitmer noted a women’s right to choose should be based on “medical facts” rather than “political rhetoric.”
Furthermore, State Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo (D-Detroit) found it ironic that some of her colleagues think “choice” is an option in other policy areas, but not when it comes to a woman’s decision on what to do with her own body.
The Republican-controlled Michigan legislature is unlikely to take a vote on this piece of legislation if it was introduced.
“We are acutely aware of how gerrymandered this legislature is and that this is an uphill battle, but that doesn’t mean you don’t fight it,” the governor said according to The Detroit Free Press. “It’s important that we continue to push legislation like this and use every tool at our disposal to protect a woman’s right to choose.”
This yet-to-be introduced legislation comes at a time where abortion faces an uncertain future in America with Planned Parenthood pulling out of the Title X Family Program and states passing laws limiting abortion procedures.
“We know there has been a nationwide effort to interfere in women’s medical decisions. States across the United States are pushing through legislation that takes away women’s rights to autonomy to our own bodies,” Whitmer said.
“The Reproductive Health Care Act ensures that women in our state can rest assured that she has autonomy over her body.” @GovWhitmer #MRHA #MIHealthCare pic.twitter.com/3mxYIGMMNq
— MI House Democrats (@MIHouseDems) October 29, 2019
According to Planned Parenthood, more than 250 state legislatures have introduced bills that restrict abortions.
Currently, Right to Life of Michigan is trying to collect signatures to end the dismemberment abortion procedure that rips backbones out of viable children. The organization released this statement after the press conference.
It’s no surprise that Governor Gretchen Whitmer wants to follow New York’s lead and allow unlimited abortion-on-demand in Michigan. We know most Michiganders do not support secret teen abortions, unregulated medical facilities, or abortions up to the point of birth.
Governor Whitmer claims our petition drive to end dismemberment abortions is banning a ‘safe’ procedure. There’s nothing safe for a child during the later stages of pregnancy when her arms and legs are torn off by forceps, and her body and skull crushed and removed. The bill to end dismemberment abortions has a life of the mother exception, so her rhetoric is as empty as her compassion for viable children who can survive outside the womb.
Prolife people have plenty of backbone, which is why we continue to collect 400,000 signatures on a bill to end the dismemberment abortion procedure that rips backbones out of viable children. Most Americans do not support late-term abortions, and it’s time for Governor Whitmer to respect that Michigan values life.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Battleground State News. Follow Zachery on Twitter.
Photo “Gretchen Whitmer” by Michigan House Democrats.
