House Passage Flies in the Face of Overwhelming Public Support for Retaining Abortion Health and Safety Regulations
LANSING, MI – Last night, proabortion Democrats in the Michigan House voted along party lines (56-54) to approve the dangerous Reproductive Health Act (RHA). A combination of House and Senate bills moved to repeal several longstanding protections for women and standard health and safety oversight to the abortion industry. These bills are out of step with the will of Michigan voters.
Polling data from the Marketing Resource Group, LLC (MRG) demonstrates overwhelming support for longstanding health and safety standards for abortion clinics, regulations now threatened by RHA passage. (MRG MI Poll, Fall 2023, October 2-8, 2023, MOE 4%)
“Michigan citizens expect that surgical abortion clinics will be held to the same level of safety and sanitation as every other surgical facility in the state. Yet the passage of the RHA threatens women’s health by repealing the requirement that surgical abortion clinics be licensed, inspected, and safe. We urge our State Senators to vote no on these dangerous bills which run contrary to the will of Michigan voters,” stated Genevieve Marnon, Legislative Director, Right to Life of Michigan.
The RHA strips abortion clinic licensing and inspection requirements, including regulations that ensure clinic hallways are wide enough for EMS workers and a stretcher in the case of an emergency; eliminates the requirement for sanitary humane disposal of fetal remains; removes transparency for the abortion industry by eliminating abortion reporting including abortion complication reporting; and allows for partial birth abortion to once again be performed in our state.
Due to the courageous stance of lone Democrat Karen Whitsett the bills eliminating the barrier to using taxpayer dollars to pay for other people’s abortion as well as the 24-hour waiting period for informed consent were removed from the bill package.
The bills will now head to the Senate for final passage. Right to Life of Michigan implores state senators to VOTE NO on the Reproductive Health Act in an effort to protect women’s health and safety by retaining commonsense clinic licensing and inspecting laws. Patient safety must take precedence over abortion clinic profits.
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Right to Life of Michigan (RLM) is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit organization dedicated to advocating a choice for life for the youngest and oldest members of our human family. Since our founding in 1972, we have remained steadfast in our mission to educate the public on life issues, support legal protections for women’s health, the elderly, disabled and unborn children and support prolife candidates. RLM has 80 affiliates across the state and more than 282,550 members. The organization achieved 172 electoral victories in 2022 alone. With more than 50 life-affirming protections passed into law, RLM estimates more than 269,633 lives have been saved by just one legal protection. For more information, visit RTL.org.