BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (AP) — A nearly century-old ban on abortion that spurred one of the largest election campaigns in Michigan history it was repealed Wednesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, just months after voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution.
“Today we are going to take steps to make sure that our statutes and our laws reflect our values and our constitution,” Whitmer said at a bill signing outside Detroit.
The 1931 abortion ban made assisting in an abortion a four-year felony. roe v. Wade had struck down the law until the landmark decision was overturned in June by the US Supreme Court.
The courts blocked the ban come into force while citizen initiative to enshrine the right to abortion on the state constitution received more signatures than any other ballot measure in state history to put the question to voters. Voters overwhelmingly approved the proposal in last November’s midterm elections, rendering the 1931 law unconstitutional and unenforceable.
The 1931 ban could have been enforced in the future if voters had collected enough signatures to once again amend the state constitution and repeal the right to abortion. Whitmer’s signing on Wednesday eliminated that possibility, erasing the law entirely.
“We cannot allow archaic laws to remain on our books under the assumption that they will never be used again,” said Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky. “We don’t know what the future holds, and we don’t know what the opponents of abortion are planning.”
Last month, Michigan’s House of Representatives and Senate, each with a two-seat Democratic majority, voted to send the governor to repeal the abortion ban. Most Republicans opposed the bill, ruling before the vote on the legality of abortion as a whole.
Pohutsky, who sponsored the legislation repealing the law, told Wednesday’s event that “this is far from the end of the story” and that the Democratic-controlled Statehouse will continue to expand access to reproductive health care.
Wednesday’s signing marked another victory for Michigan abortion rights supporters, who joined California and Vermont last November enshrining the right to abortion in his state constitution. Kentucky, a reliably red state, rejected a ballot measure aimed at denying any state constitutional protection for abortion.
voters in Wisconsin elected a Democrat-backed Milwaukee judge on Tuesday to the state Supreme Court, ensuring that liberals will take majority control of the court with the fate of the state’s abortion ban at stake.
“Who would have thought two years ago, three years ago, five years ago, that as Democrats we would be looking to Michigan, Kansas, Wisconsin, Montana, and Kentucky to be on the front lines of protecting the reproductive freedom of women across this country. ”. said Laphonza Butler, president of EMILYs List.
Whitmer joined other speakers at the event in Birmingham in criticizing Republican-led states for restricting abortion rights, calling the laws in Texas and South Carolina “un-American, anti-free and, frankly, disgusting.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has lobbied for a six-week ban in his statehe is scheduled to appear in Michigan on Thursday to speak at a Midland County Republican event before heading to southern Michigan to speak at Hillsdale College.
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