S.B. 147 was signed into law by Governor Whitmer on May 17, 2023 and will go into effect 90 days after the close of the 2023 session. On May 4, 2023, the Senate took a second vote on S.B. 147 to concur in the H-1 substitute. Again, there was a party line vote of 20-18 to pass the bill. On May 3, 2023, the House passed the bill on party lines with a 56-52 vote. Several prolife house members offered floor speeches highlighting the dangers of the bill and reasons why it should be voted down. The House Judiciary committee took testimony on April 19, 2023. RLM was given two minutes to testify against the bill and an amendment to provide conscience protections for employers was offered but voted down along party lines. The committee voted out the bill along party lines. On March 16, 2023 the bill was passed by the Senate along party lines. On March 15, the Senate Committee adopted an S-1 sub for S.B. 147 along party lines. Sen. Ruth Johnson offered an amendment to allow for religious/conscience exceptions, but the pro-abortion majority did not adopt her amendment. S.B. 147 was introduced on March 7, 2023 and was referred to the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety Committee.

Description

S.B. 147 amends the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act by changing the definition of “sex” to include elective abortion. This change makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee for pregnancy, childbirth, or elective abortions, and forces employers to treat pregnancy, childbirth, and abortion equally for the purposes of employer benefits including health insurance, paid leave, and work accommodations. There is no religious or conscience exception to this bill.

Background

The Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act was created to prevent discrimination in employment, housing, education, and access to public accommodations. The pro-abortion majority in the legislature is trying to use the passage of Prop 3 as cover for their radical agenda of forcing private employers to put abortion and childbirth on equal footings. Prop 3’s non-discrimination clause applies only to government entities, yet this bill will force the acceptance of abortion by all employers with 1 or more employees. Therefore, all employers will have to provide the same “term, condition, or privilege” to an employee for abortion as they do for pregnancy/childbirth. This bill would not only force employers to violate their religious and conscious objections and be forced to provide their employees with abortion benefits, but it could also be a way to circumvent the abortion insurance opt-out law and force the citizens of Michigan to pay for the abortions of others.

History

The Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act was passed in 1976 to ensure that employers may not “fail or refuse to hire or recruit, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against an individual with respect to employment, compensation, or a term, condition, or privilege of employment, because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, or marital status.” Though it was designed to prevent sex discrimination, among other things, it was never intended to include abortion as a part of sex. The inclusion of an “action” i.e. the action of procuring an elective abortion, is a radical departure from the intent of the ELRCA law which was designed to prevent discrimination for inherent qualities. By including actions under the banner of discrimination protections, it diminishes the value of the ELRCA and opens the door to inclusion of an untold number of actions which will make it nearly impossible for employers.