About Right to Life of Michigan

Local prolife groups throughout Michigan began organizing to counter pro-abortion legislation.

Prolife organizations in the state banded together to create the Voice of the Unborn to defeat Proposal B, a referendum to legalize abortion in Michigan. In November, 61% of Michigan voters defeated Proposal B.

The devastating decisions by United States Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton were announced on January 22. The rulings legalized abortion at any stage throughout pregnancy, overturning laws that protected human life in all states. Rising to this new challenge, members of the Voice for the Unborn coalition formally united as Michigan Citizens for Life (MCL). The goals of this new organization were broadened to include the protection of human life from fertilization to natural death.

Prolife organizations around the country began efforts to pass a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The first state-wide prolife newspaper was printed, then called Michigan Citizens for Life News, today known as the Right to Life of Michigan News.

MCL held its first annual state convention and hosted the National Right to Life Convention, bringing together prolife leaders from around the country.

Michigan passed legislation safeguarding parents and children by ensuring school officials could not make abortion referrals.

A protection against experimenting on live fetal tissues and embryos passed in Michigan.

MCL created a Political Action Committee to endorse candidates for public office who are committed to the sanctity of human life.

MCL, for purposes of clarity and unity, changed its name to Right to Life of Michigan (RLM).

RLM opened a legislative office to place increasing focus on advancing prolife legislation. The primary goal was establishing safeguards against the use of tax dollars for elective Medicaid abortions.

For the first time ever, thanks to RLM’s legislative efforts, annual statistics on abortions in Michigan were collected, providing a level of transparency into abortion rates.

RLM began a media campaign pioneering the use of television commercials to educate the public on prolife issues.

RLM called churches in Michigan to celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday with the Christian Action Council of Washington, D.C. President Ronald Reagan was the first president to celebrate the sanctity of human life by national proclamation.

RLM launched one of the most successful petition drives in state history, giving state lawmakers veto-proof legislation to stop Medicaid abortions. The grassroots effort netted nearly 500,000 petition signatures in just 83 days. The Legislature enacted the legislation into law in June.

The pro-abortion People’s Campaign for Choice mounted their own petition drive to repeal the safeguards against the use of tax dollars for abortion through Medicaid. Michigan citizens opposed Proposal A by 57%, keeping the protections for taxpayers on the books. On December 12, the law went into effect.

RLM began LifeBeat, a weekly five-minute educational radio show that ran for more than 20 years.

As a result of the protection against the use of tax dollars for abortion through Medicaid, Michigan abortions declined from 45,438 in 1988 to 35,138. In 1989, more than 10,000 lives saved in a single year.

RLM launched a second initiative petition drive to bring “The Parental Rights Restoration Act” before the state legislature to require parental consent for minor teen abortions. The legislature passed the measure on September 12, with no challenge from abortion supporters.

RLM-PAC helped elect John Engler as the first prolife governor of Michigan in twenty years.

The first annual High School Oratory Contest is sponsored by RLM.

The infamous Jack Kevorkian engages in his first public assisted suicide, eventually assisting in the death of 130 people and avoiding numerous prosecution attempts before his eventual imprisonment for second-degree murder in 1999.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Roe v. Wade in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. However, the court also upheld a variety of new prolife laws and regulations.

RLM helped to pass an informed consent law in Michigan to ensure women receive standard medical information about abortion, including common risks associated with the procedure. Prior to this, abortion facilities were providing only limited and often inaccurate information about abortion, often minutes before the procedure.

A law protecting Michigan citizens from assisted suicide in Michigan goes into effect but is declared unconstitutional by Michigan judges after a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union.

RLM led a complete overhaul of Michigan’s adoption and foster care laws which removed extensive “red tape” and facilitated a quicker, smoother adoption process. It also led to a significant reduction in the cost of infant adoption.

After several tragic incidents of violence at abortion facilities, RLM responded with two TV commercials calling for an end to violence inside and outside the clinics. RLM was honored by the Michigan House of Representatives with a resolution applauding our efforts against violence in the abortion debate.

On June 14, Michigan became the first state in the nation to pass a law prohibiting the gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion. A nation-wide protection against partial-birth abortion was vetoed by President Bill Clinton and Michigan’s law was struck down in federal court. Following the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision and acts of violence at abortion facilities, public opinion began drifting away from the prolife side, but the revelation of the existence of partial-birth abortion shocked the conscience of the nation.

RLM launched rtl.org.

Governor Engler signed into law a bill that closed loopholes that were allowing HMO’s and other health care groups to pay for abortions with taxpayer funds.

RLM began its 1-800-57-WOMAN campaign with four TV commercials airing statewide. The toll-free number connects women with pregnancy help centers that can provide counseling, emotional and material support.

RLM ran a nationwide media campaign on abortion featuring Mother Teresa.

After several trials and acquittals, Jack Kevorkian killed his last patient, Thomas Youk, with a lethal injection and taped the incident for the show 60 Minutes. This airing showed the reality of assisted suicide to the broader public.

RLM succeeded in passing a law prohibiting assisted suicide, as well as laws promoting better pain management for patients suffering from a terminal illness.

Assisted suicide activists sought to legalize the practice in Michigan with Proposal B. In response, RLM formed Citizens for Compassionate Care, a broad coalition to defeat it. In September, polls had Proposal B winning by a safe margin. However, after a massive public information campaign exposing the dangers lurking in the proposal, Proposal B fell to a devastating defeat in November by 71% of voters.

Michigan passed several notable prolife laws in 1998, including the first human cloning ban in the country. The Prenatal Protection Act also passed, giving legal protection to the woman on behalf of her unborn child when a criminal action against her results in the child’s death or injury.

A second attempt to pass a provision against partial-birth abortion by defining a partially-born baby as an infant with legal/human rights was signed by Governor Engler, but it was again struck down in federal court.

Laws to hold abortion facilities to basic levels of health and safety were passed.

RLM produced three TV ads for the first time focusing on men and abortion.

Jack Kevorkian is convicted of second-degree murder for the killing of Thomas Youk and was imprisoned.

Michigan passed a law protecting doctors from “wrongful birth” lawsuits in situations where parents say they would have aborted their child if they knew they had a disability.

The Safe Delivery Act passed, allowing mothers unable to care for their child to anonymously surrender their children to an emergency services provider within 72 hours of birth.

RLM also helped pass a law giving adoptive families a state tax credit.

A package of bills to improve end-of-life care for patients became law. The package was based on recommendations from a commission set up in the wake of the assisted suicide advocacy in the 1990s and the 1998 law against it.

Following a scandal at Christ Hospital in Illinois, and other places where babies that survived botched abortions were left to die without care, Michigan passed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act to require abortion survivors to be treated the same as any other infant or person.

RLM created a department to better support minority communities with life-saving information and resources. The department created the Life of a People presentation to explore the consequences of abortion in the Black community.

The third effort to protect against partial-birth abortion, the Legal Birth Definition Act, was approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Jennifer Granholm. The act defined birth as when any part of the infant was delivered vaginally and thus would have given the baby legal rights.

RLM began running Yellow Page ads to promote the 1-800-57-WOMAN hotline to women facing unplanned pregnancies.

The Right to Life of Michigan Outstanding Prolife Youth Award was created for high school seniors.

RLM responded to the veto of the Legal Birth Definition Act by conducting its third statewide initiative petition drive. The People’s Override was successful in circumventing Governor Granholm but was again struck down in federal court. Attorney General Mike Cox appealed the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which refused to take the case.

RLM developed television ads promoting the loving option of adoption.

The RLM Educational Fund hosted the National Urban Outreach Seminar in Detroit.

The Ultrasound Viewing Option law was passed in Michigan, requiring abortion providers to give patients the opportunity to view the ultrasound image of their baby.

RLM helped pass legislation to create a state network of umbilical cord blood banks to aid ethical forms of stem cell research.

Another law is passed to give parents of stillborn children a one-time tax credit intended to help with any hospital or funeral costs.

The U.S. Supreme Court for the first time upheld a federal safeguard against partial-birth abortion in Gonzales v. Carhart.

RLM and like-minded organizations formed MiCause to defeat Proposal 2, a ballot proposal which legalized the killing of human embryos for research in Michigan. Proposal 2 passed 53% to 47%.

A bill based on the federal law prohibiting partial-birth abortion was passed by the Michigan legislature but again vetoed by Governor Granholm.

The number of annual abortions in Michigan declined to the all-time low of 22,357 since statistics were first collected in 1980.

RLM debuted two new television commercials, “Accusations” and “Little Rascals,” in a state-wide campaign.

Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell became the center of a national controversy after a media blackout of revelations involving hundreds if not thousands, of infanticides and the deaths of patients in his facility.

The Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act was signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder, ending the long, 15-year fight to prohibit the barbaric procedure.

Michigan’s adoption tax credit and stillborn tax credit were repealed by Governor Snyder as part of a larger tax overhaul that eliminated credits.

The Prolife Omnibus Act, nicknamed the “Prolife Bus,” was signed into law. The Omnibus Act addressed numerous issues with abortion facility regulations, including requiring regular inspections and remedying short falls with abortion statistics reporting. Many of the worst abortion facilities in Michigan closed in the following years. Enforcement by Attorney General Bill Schuette helped these efforts substantially.

In response to Obamacare’s threats to conscience rights, RLM formed the NO Taxes for Abortion Insurance committee to conduct its fourth citizen-initiated legislation drive. More than 315,000 signatures were collected in four months by prolife volunteers to the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act. The Act prevented abortion from being automatically included in health insurance plans. After the signatures the certified, both chambers passed the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act which protected conscience rights for taxpayers.

RLM helped passed the Good Faith Medical Act, stopping hospitals from having secret medical futility policies for denying care to the sick or disabled.

Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell is convicted of murder in the deaths of three born-alive babies and manslaughter for the death of patient Karnamaya Mongar.

RLM launched the Compassion Project, a series of four women’s stories in short films discussing the issue of rape, incest, and abortion. The ads played on statewide television, along with a later 30-minute program bringing the four stories together, called “Life Uninvited.” Two additional ads were released — updated versions of our popular “Seed” and “Daffodil” ads.

RLM Educational Fund hosted our first ever Min Sharetha dinner, to benefit our work with Michigan’s Chaldean community.

For the first time since 1988, Michigan voted for a prolife presidential candidate, President Donald Trump, helping to pave the way to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.

RLM helped pass the Coercive Abortion Prevention Act, which requires screening for coercion before an abortion is performed.

The Rape Survivor Child Custody Act became law. RLM became aware of situations where a woman who survived rape and gave birth to a child was forced to fight the rapist for child custody. RLM worked to strengthen the rights of rape survivors. The act changed the evidence standard for custody hearings, putting rape on the same legal standard as child abuse or neglect.

In response to undercover video evidence that Planned Parenthood was involved in human organ trafficking, Lt. Governor Brian Calley signed the Fetal Organ Trafficking Ban into law.

RLM revived our old radio show LifeBeat as a podcast format.

RLM began an annual initiative to address abortion’s disparate impact on the Black community in Michigan by supporting Metro Detroit pregnancy centers. Grants to four centers were given.

Michigan’s Safe Delivery Law passed a milestone of 200 babies surrendered through the life-saving program.

In the early months of 2019, New York and Virginia passed shocking new permissive abortion laws in preparation for the U.S. Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v. Wade. During the same time, the prolife movie Unplanned was a box office success.

RLM led a fifth petition drive for citizen-initiated legislation to end late-term dismemberment abortions. RLM submitted 379,418 signatures in December.

Estimates show Michigan’s 1988 law safeguarding taxpayers from Medicaid-funded abortions passed a milestone of 250,000 lives saved.

The pandemic disrupted most of RLM’s public events and programs, but prolife efforts continued.

The Michigan Bureau of Elections found enough errors in the 379,418 signatures (referenced above) to reject the petition.

In response to public concern about the ethics of the Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccines involving the use of tissue from aborted babies, RLM helped place informed consent language within a pandemic relief supplemental bill, which was signed by Governor Whitmer. Unfortunately, the provision was only regarding the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) which was temporary.

RLM joined other organizations in submitting an amicus curae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to overturn Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Court heard oral arguments in December, leading many observers to predict that Roe v. Wade would ultimately fall.

The FDA changed regulations on abortion pills in December, allowing distribution through the mail.

In January, pro-abortion organizations in Michigan formed a coalition to amend Michigan’s constitution to allow abortion at any time in pregnancy (up to birth) for any reason, threatening to eliminate most prolife laws in the state. The coalition, Reproductive Freedom for All (RFFA), ran into several hurdles to getting their petitions approved after legal challenges from RLM.

On May 2, an unprecedented leak revealed the U.S. Supreme Court was planning to overturn Roe v. Wade. The leak unleashed a wave of attacks on prolife pregnancy centers and an assassination attempt of a Supreme Court justice. It also led to a boost in the RFFA’s efforts to gather petition signatures in the state.

On June 24, 2022, after nearly 50 years, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing the people and our elected leaders at all levels of government to address the legality of abortion, which the courts promptly did.

For only a few brief moments following the Dobbs case, Michigan’s 1846 abortion law prohibiting abortion except in cases to save the life of the mother was once again in effect. Both Governor Whitmer and Planned Parenthood filed separate lawsuits to block the abortion law.

On September 20, a Michigan prolife volunteer, Joan Jacobson, was shot while going door-to-door to oppose Proposal 3.

In November, Proposal 3 was passed by 57% of voters, creating a right to unlimited abortion in Michigan’s Constitution. Despite raising an unprecedented $21 million and delaying their attempts to make the ballot, RLM and our prolife coalition could not overcome Reproductive Freedom for All’s $47 million dollar campaign.

The abortion debate took an ugly turn in 2022. In May, terrorist group Jane’s Revenge began attacking prolife pregnancy centers, churches and prolife offices across America, including Michigan with few repercussions. In June, an assassination attempt of Justice Brett Kavanaugh was foiled. In September, President Joe Biden gave a dark speech suggesting opponents were enemies of the state. In December, the first Jane’s Revenge attack on a prolife leader‘s home occurred in Michigan to a Detroit pregnancy center board member.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a sweeping repeal of the 1931 abortion law, wiping out longstanding protections for women and the unborn in the final stages of pregnancy.

Right to Life of Michigan celebrated the first anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Right to Life of Michigan continued to support women and girls by standing up for parental consent protections, informed consent requirements and health and safety standards for abortion facilities.

The Michigan Coalition to Protect a Woman’s Right to Know united in opposition to the dangerous Reproductive Health Act (RHA). The RHA package of bills included repealing Michigan’s informed consent and 24-hour waiting period requirement, removing basic surgical abortion clinic health and safety regulations and eliminating the legal barrier that prevents taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions.

On November 8, Right to Life of Michigan and the National March for Life hosted Michigan’s first-ever March for Life with 5,000 attendees. On the steps of the Lansing state capitol, Right to Life Michigan announced a legal challenge to the constitutionality of Proposal 3.

On November 21, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Reproductive Health Act, repealing several longstanding protective laws for women and children (list of laws referenced above). The 24-hour waiting period and informed consent for abortion, the protection against using taxpayer dollars to pay for other people’s abortions and parental consent were left intact.

In November, the Death with Dignity Act (SB 678-681) was introduced in the Michigan State Senate to legalize the dangerous practice of allowing doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to their patients to commit suicide.

In December, RLM President Barbara Listing announced her retirement following 43 years of leading the organization. Amber Roseboom transitioned into the role of the new president.

In January, the Michigan Alliance for Ethical Care was formed to counteract the Death with Dignity Act. Several organizations, medical professionals and associations joined together to educate the public on the dangers of physician-assisted suicide potentially coming to Michigan.

The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) went into effect in Michigan law on February 13.

On May 1, RLM launched Life. The Other Choice., an organization-wide refresh. This launch included new multi-media ads, a new website and brand refresh and some fun merch. The focus of the new messaging was to reach women who may consider abortion with a hopeful message that invites them to make a courageous choice for life and to broadly impact our communities by changing hearts and minds. In the first few weeks of the airing of these ads, the help line offered at the end of the ads saw a 14% increase in calls coming in from Michigan. That means that 32 women unsure of where to turn or how to find help reached out in just a few weeks.

Right to Life of Michigan celebrated the second anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

On June 25, Judge Sima Patel placed a temporary injunction on Michigan’s long-standing informed consent for abortion law. The injunction means that women no longer need to be presented with basic medical facts about abortion before undergoing the procedure. The ruling also allows for non-physicians to now perform abortions. The injunction was a result of a lawsuit filed in February by Northland Family Planning against the State of Michigan challenging the constitutionality of informed consent and 24-hour waiting period under Proposal 3.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a lawsuit on behalf of the YWCA of Kalamazoo to challenge the constitutionality of safeguards against using taxpayer dollars through Medicaid to pay for other people’s abortions.