In 2016, in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas could not put restrictions on the delivery of abortion services which place an undue burden on a person. Roe was protected. Even within an environment of added barriers to abortion access in Michigan, even as court cases nationally travelled the court system to the U.S. Supreme Court, the prevailing wisdom was that Roe was protected.
There were some of us, however, who questioned how protected it would remain, and if laws still on our books despite being rendered mute by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision could be awakened should Roe fall, because another case was working its way through the courts— Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson —it still posed a threat. And here in Michigan, the first 1931 zombie law repeal bill was introduced in 2018. I should know. I wrote it. It never received a hearing.
In 2019, at the start of the 100th Legislature, and as Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson continued its path to the U.S. Supreme Court, I was joined by three Senate colleagues to introduce an even more detailed package. A similar package was introduced in the House. Of course, in a legislative climate hostile to abortion and sound reproductive health writ-large, neither package received a hearing.
At the beginning of the 101st Legislature, in the Senate—undaunted—we reintroduced the same package, despite our House counterparts deciding to wait and despite knowing that a reintroduction risked repeat of history of marked silence. We knew what was at stake if we didn’t. We knew the cost of doing nothing.
And December 10th the same year, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson , upholding a Texas six-week abortion ban. The decision clearly weakened Roe and the protections it held for individual privacy and the autonomy for people to make their own reproductive health care decisions free from governmental intrusion. The nine-decade-old anti-abortion zombie laws here now posed an even greater threat to Michiganders.
While Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson travelled to the U.S. Supreme Court, so was Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ; and on June 24, 2022, the country saw and felt viscerally how that ruling struck down Roe and how it effectively awakened previously-dormant 1931 anti-reproductive healthcare laws here. In response, Michiganders—in their grit and determination—acted and passed Proposal 3 to enshrine into our State Constitution the right to reproductive health care, including abortion.
Michiganders have spoken, and the most urgent and pertinent part of doing the people’s work to fulfill Proposal 3 is repealing the 1931 bans. The people demand it. It is the floor of what we must do; but do it, we must. There’s no reason to transport women’s rights and the reproductive health of all Michiganders backwards. Let us now do the will of the people and vote “yes” on these bills.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 37, entitled
A bill to amend 1927 PA 175, entitled “The code of criminal procedure,” by amending section 16a of chapter XVII (MCL 777.16a), as amended by 2010 PA 97.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: