By Chris Gast, Right to Life of Michigan Education Coordinator
Throughout her administration, Governor Whitmer has shown an inability to do simple things right and a love for abusing her authority on difficult issues. Her lawsuit to invent a right to abortion in the Michigan Constitution is no different.
Passing laws on abortion is difficult. For nearly 50 years, we’ve had to work with a largely hostile U.S. Supreme Court that fought us every step of the way. Our first three attempts to ban the heinous partial-birth abortion procedure died in the courts.
For nearly 50 years, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and other abortion supporters could have passed practically any law they wanted with the blessings of courts, but they didn’t. Why? They never had the support of the voters or their elected representatives. That, and they grew lazy relying on their allies in the courts to cheat the process for them.
Michigan has banned abortion since the beginnings of our state. In 1972, Michigan voters were asked to weigh in, and a supermajority voted to uphold our abortion ban. Weeks later, the U.S. Supreme Court invented a right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution through all nine months of pregnancy. Our election result was unjustly overturned.
Abortion supporters then demanded our state’s abortion ban be repealed by implication, but the Michigan Supreme Court wisely ruled in 1973 that our law remained the will of the voters—only enforcement of the ban has been injured. The Legislature and voters remained free to change that law if desired, but in nearly 50 years, no change was made.
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to return abortion policy to the democratic process, Governor Whitmer now steps in. She is asking the Michigan Supreme Court to overturn the 1972 election, ignore 175 years of legal precedent, betray legal procedures, wreck their credibility, and abuse our constitution. Why? Because cheating is easier for her than using the democratic process to pass unpopular abortion laws.
Planned Parenthood is currently collecting signatures to create an abortion right in Michigan’s Constitution, yet they and Governor Whitmer are simultaneously asking the Court to cheat them over the finish line. They must not believe voters will support their anything goes abortion amendment.
The Michigan Supreme Court must do the right thing and reject this power play if they want to preserve any shred of their credibility. Not just human lives, but democracy itself in our state is at stake.