I am offering an amendment to Senate Bill No. 147 and ask for your support. As it stands right now, this legislation appears to open the door to mandating that employers treat abortion the same as they do pregnancy and childbirth. My amendment is simple. It affirms that abortion should not be allowed after a baby has reached viability and could survive outside the womb. If you vote against this amendment, you are saying you support abortion in instances where the baby has reached viability and could survive outside the womb. I urge you to support this amendment.
Senator Geiss’ second statement is as follows:
This amendment which is based on things that are conjured and imagined, scenarios remarkably unmoored from reality that do not happen, they’re not rooted in medical science, or anything related to OB care, and is remarkably cruel. The point in time that the amendment sponsor is referring to is among the most devastating medical things occurring prenatally that an expectant person could be going through. Trying to insert further, traumatizing the people by allowing employers to retaliate and discriminate against them is just so twisted. I urge a “no” vote on this amendment. It flies in the face of protecting people who are in any scope of reproductive care from discrimination and from retaliation from their employers.
Senator Geiss’ third statement is as follows:
It is always a good day when we are expanding civil rights protections, not urging people to rally against them. I am very proud that we have this bill before us today to expand civil rights protections, to protect people who are pregnant—who are in any form within their reproductive healthcare. Senate Bill No. 147 is a clear and simple bill to amend sections 201(d) and 202(d), thus providing people with protections from discrimination and retribution for pregnancy, childbirth, the termination of a pregnancy, or a related medical condition under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Elliott-Larsen currently has a carve out that would allow employers to fire an employee arbitrarily based on their own opinions, ideas, imaginations—whatever—for having an abortion. Given the passage of Proposal 3 in November, that was the state wide conversation that we had. It is necessary to ensure that this loophole is closed so that employers who are hostile to abortion—believe they need to insert themselves in peoples’ reproductive healthcare decisions—do not violate the state Constitution. The people of Michigan spoke loudly and clearly with the passage of Proposal 3 in 2022. Nothing anyone in this room—anyone who doesn’t like that—can do, is going to happen.
It is up to us to ensure that laws are updated to reflect the will of the people who voted for Proposal 3. We are going to protect not only their constitutional rights but also their civil rights. I urge and support swift passage of Senate Bill No. 147.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 158, entitled
A bill to amend 1933 PA 167, entitled “General sales tax act,” by amending sections 1 and 25 (MCL 205.51 and 205.75), section 1 as amended by 2018 PA 2 and section 25 as amended by 2021 PA 108.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: