LANSING, Mich – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a series of bills, collectively known as the Reproductive Health Act, aimed at safeguarding abortion rights in the state.
The legislation repealed Michigan’s TRAP laws, which imposed specific restrictions on abortion providers, including regulations on facility dimensions. Governor Whitmer argued that these restrictions increased costs and reduced the number of available providers, particularly in Western and Northern Michigan.
The legislation allows partial-birth abortions legal in the State of Michigan.
Even though Michigan is repealing its ban on “partial-birth abortion,” it’s prohibited by a 2003 federal law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.
Some say this procedure is extremely rare, responded Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, as nearly 99% of abortions occur before 21 weeks. When abortions happen later in pregnancies, she said, they’re “often in very complex circumstances” when women need options that include dilation and extraction.
The package also abolished a 1931 law criminalizing healthcare providers for prescribing abortion medication, the most common method of abortion.
Additionally, the bills eliminated a requirement for abortion patients to purchase separate insurance riders, reducing out-of-pocket expenses. The Reproductive Health Act is framed as a step toward expanding healthcare access, lowering costs, and protecting individuals’ constitutional rights to make decisions about their own bodies. The legislation was enacted in response to Proposal 3, in which 56.65% of Michiganders voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
The Michigan Catholic Conference opposed the legislation saying it:
- Minimal to no transparency or accountability for abortion clinics due to a proposed removal of clinic reporting requirements, including for instances of complications that occur during an abortion.
- More women having an abortion they do not want due to a proposed repeal of a screening for coercion prior to an abortion.
- More aborted children discarded in public waste containers due to a proposed repeal of requirements to dispose of fetal remains safely and humanely.
