Governor Whitmer Statement on Latest Legal Action to Protect Reproductive Rights in Michigan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

March 19, 2024

Contact: press@michigan.gov

Governor Whitmer Statement on Latest Legal Action to Protect Reproductive Rights in Michigan

If anti-choice lawsuit is successful in Michigan, women could lose access to IVF, contraception, prenatal care, abortion, and other health care

LANSING, Mich. – Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer released the following statement after filing a motion to protect reproductive freedom from a legal challenge to Proposition 3. Proposition 3 provides Michigan women with the constitutional right to reproductive freedom and was added to the Michigan constitution after the majority of voters supported the ballot measure in 2022. If Right to Life’s lawsuit is successful, women across Michigan could lose protections for reproductive freedom, including IVF, contraception, prenatal care, and abortion care.

“Today, I am filing a motion to protect reproductive freedom in Michigan. 

“Right now, there is an extreme lawsuit put forward by Right to Life seeking to overturn Proposal 3 from 2022, which passed overwhelmingly and enshrined reproductive freedom in the Michigan Constitution. This lawsuit threatens protections for abortion, contraception, and IVF, which millions of Americans use to start a family every year.

“Right to Life’s lawsuit is making the same argument that led to the recent ruling in Alabama—where abortion is banned—which led IVF providers to stop operating in the state. Also, they filed this case federal court, asking a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush to overrule the will of the people of Michigan. That’s unacceptable.

“We must stay vigilant amid a rising tide of bills and lawsuits at the state and federal level seeking to roll back the hard-fought progress we have made here in Michigan. Women must be able to make private health care decisions that are best for them without interference from politicians. Together, we will protect our freedoms.”

Michiganders Support for Protections in Proposition 3

• In November 2022, Michiganders overwhelmingly voted for Proposition 3, protecting abortion rights in our state constitution.
• In a May 2023 poll, 55% of women ages 18-49 say they or someone they know has made a decision due to worries about accessing abortion. In the same poll, 65% of adults are concerned bans on abortion would make it difficult for doctors to safely treat patients, leading to complications.   

Protecting Reproductive Freedom

In 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, taking away the constitutional right to abortion that American women had for half a century. Many states either passed or had preexisting bans on abortion that went into effect. Michigan had a pre-existing law on the books banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest and criminalizing nurses and doctors for providing reproductive health care.  

In November 2022, Michiganders voted overwhelmingly to pass Proposal 3, which enshrined the right to reproductive freedom in the Michigan constitution. This action protected the right to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion, miscarriage management, and infertility care in the Michigan constitution. 

Since then, attacks on reproductive freedom have continued. In November 2023, Right to Life Michigan filed a lawsuit challenging Proposal 3, threatening protections for IVF, prenatal care, and other reproductive health care.   

More recently, the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling had the effect of taking away from families access to IVF, a procedure used by millions of Americans to have children every year. There have been bills introduced in over a dozen other states and at the federal level that would ban IVF. The Michigan Legislature today passed a bill package that increases protections for parents using IVF and other forms of assisted reproduction and their children.

###