State Senate Committee Ignores Will of Voters, Pushes Reproductive Health Act Threatening to Remove Longstanding Protections for Women and Children

New Poll Demonstrates Overwhelming, Increased Support for Long-Standing Abortion Regulations

LANSING, MI – On Tuesday, October 17, proabortion Democrats on the Michigan State Senate Housing and Human Services Committee voted in unison to send central elements of the dangerous Reproductive Health Act (RHA) to the Senate Floor for a vote. The 8-3 vote was along party lines with every Democrat voting in favor of repealing long standing health and safety regulations, and the three Republicans voting to keep the protections in place. This brazen action comes on the heels of new polling data from the Marketing Resource Group, LLC (MRG) which demonstrates overwhelming support for longstanding legal protections for women seeking an abortion, protections now threatened by RHA passage. (MRG MI Poll, Fall 2023, October 2-8, 2023, MOE 4%)

“Today’s move by proabortion members on the Senate Housing and Human Services Committee appears to be a Hail Mary effort to move the dangerous Reproductive Health Act, currently stalled in the House,” stated Genevieve Marnon, Legislative Director, Right to Life of Michigan.

The RHA removes informed consent and 24-hour waiting period protections, strips abortion clinic licensing regulations, 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, and more. Currently, the bill to eliminate the barrier to using taxpayer dollars to pay for other people’s abortion is stalled in the State House and not included in the Senate package of bills.

New polling data (link) released yesterday from MRG demonstrates overwhelming support for existing regulations threatened by central portions of the RHA:

• 72% of Michigan voters want the 24-hour waiting period with allows for informed consent to remain in place. This is up from 63% in May; and
• A stunning 95% of Michigan voters support abortion clinic health and safety regulations. This is up from 90% in May. (See the full polling results here).

The RHA now sits before the full Senate for a vote while stalled in the House. Right to Life of Michigan implores all Michigan state senators to VOTE NO on the Reproductive Health Act in an effort to protect a woman’s right to know and hold abortion clinics to basic health and safety standards for medical care.

For More Information: Contact our Legislative Director, Genevieve Marnon, (989) 277-7933, [email protected].