Every voter should be aware of where candidates stand on critical issues, and no issue is more critical than our right to life. Where does Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stand?
Enforcing Laws
Said she will violate her oath of office and refuse to enforce laws she disagrees with. During her campaign, she promised she would ignore Michigan’s existing abortion law and refuse to prosecute abortionists.
Special Rules for Abortion Facilities
During the coronavirus pandemic, Nessel joined a coalition of state attorneys general objecting to emergency health regulations that closed abortion facilities. On March 26, 2021, Nessel said, “We won’t dictate services physicians choose to perform and we won’t interfere with the doctor/patient relationship.” At that time, the state of Michigan was legally restricting people from visiting their doctor or receiving needed treatments at outpatient facilities.
Filed briefs on behalf of the State of Michigan in two cases arguing that regulating abortion facilities is unconstitutional. She praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June Medical Services v. Russo, which struck down a Louisiana law that required abortion facilities have admitting privileges at a local hospital to provide care for women suffering from a botched abortion.
Down Syndrome Abortions
Filed a brief for the state arguing that it is unconstitutional to protect children with Down syndrome from abortions targeted at their disability.
Late-Term Abortions
Filed a brief for the state in the current U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that involves Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Nessel believes the U.S. Constitution forbids any limit on abortion before the process of birth is complete, including bans on partial-birth abortions.
Abortions for Children
Withdrew a brief authored by her predecessor, Attorney General Bill Schuette, in the case Garza v. Azar. The case involved unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors who were pregnant. The federal government refused to facilitate the abortions; if they did, it would violate parental consent and prohibitions against public funding of abortions.
Fetal Tissue Trafficking
A coalition of state attorneys general—including Nessel—sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to object to an ethics board that reviewed taxpayer funding of research involving organs and tissues taken from aborted babies.
Protecting the Elderly
Refused to investigate Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s policy placing patients sick with the coronavirus in nursing homes full of elderly patients—who were most at risk from dying from the coronavirus.
Health & Safety Regulations
A coalition of state attorneys general—including Nessel—filed a brief arguing Indiana’s health and safety regulations for abortion are unconstitutional. She argued non-doctors should be able to provide abortion pills, that abortion pills should be distributed without doctors physically examining patients, and that late-term surgical abortions should be able to be done in facilities that aren’t equipped to perform surgeries.