Six bills rolling back 30 years of abortion restrictions put on the books by Republican majorities moved through a House committee this morning, but their future in the full chamber is dubious after one Democrat came out against them and more may be on the way.
Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit) issued a press release two minutes before today’s House Health Policy Committee that she would not support the 11-bill Reproductive Health Act, which includes legalization of late-term elective abortions.
One piece of the package allows taxpayer money to fund elective abortions, which Whitsett said she could not support at a time when many seniors in her district live in poverty.
“Elderly citizens across our state are forced to make unthinkable trade-offs just to survive – deciding between food, shelter or the medication that literally keep them alive,” she said. “We have an unbreakable moral obligation to direct limited Medicaid resources first and foremost toward caring for these vulnerable grandparents who built the very fabric of our society.”
MIRS has learned Whitsett is not the only Democrat with concerns. Democrats representing strong communities of faith are fine returning Michigan to a Roe v. Wade environment, but they are not OK with dismantling the guardrails around the procedure.
Five of the 11 bills – two allowing for Medicaid-paid abortions – did not receive a vote in committee at all. Rep. Alabas A. Farhat (D-Dearborn) passed on a bill that makes changes to the criminal code.
House Health Policy Committee Chair Julie Rogers (D-Kalamazoo) said Whitsett’s position does not kill the package but didn’t say where a 56th House vote would come from.
Democrats have a slim, 56-54, majority and every member of the Republican caucus is pro-life. Voters from both sides of the political aisle supported Proposal 3, to enshrine access to abortion into the constitution, so the issue has bipartisan support, publicly, she said.
House Democratic spokesperson Amber McCann downplayed Whitsett’s decision to send out her press release at 9:28 a.m. while not giving the caucus much of a head’s up. She noted that Whitsett has surprised the caucus before, but she has been known to change her mind when she’s able to talk out her concerns over a bill.
Rep. Jamie Thompson (R-Brownstown) said Democrats are starting to realize how “extreme” these bills are.
“Yes, Michiganders voted yes to allow abortion, to go back to what Roe v. Wade said was legal,” Thompson said. “But this is not what the residents of Michigan said. We didn’t vote to remove informed consent.”
The six bills that did move to the House floor were HB 4949 , HB 4950 , HB 4953 , HB 4954 , HB 4955 and HB 4956 . Together they do the following, among other things:
– Allows for abortions after fetal viability (late-term abortions). The new constitutional amendment reads that the state can’t limit any abortion that a physician believes is medically necessary to protect the life of a pregnant woman.
– Takes a partial-birth abortion ban off the books.
– It decriminalizes the abortion of a fetus that’s moving in a woman’s womb.
– It repeals the law that requires anyone wanting abortion coverage on their health insurance to pay for a separate rider.
– Allow physicians to perform partial-birth abortions.
– It would get rid of requirements on where fetal remains can be disposed and the 24-hour waiting period before someone can receive an abortion, among other regulations.
– The pre-abortion screening to check to see if a woman had been coerced into receiving an abortion would be gone.
All of these repeals and more came over a series of 30 years as Right to Life worked with Republican legislative majorities to pass what advocates called “guard rails” for abortion procedures.
However, some Democrats, particularly those in competitive seats or in areas with a high religious component, are leery about casting a vote for Medicaid-funded abortions, late-term abortions, and other laws that were functionally repealed by Proposal 3.
The thought process is to let the courts throw out these laws as legal challenges emerge, as opposed to making legislators walk the plank on votes that would be unpopular in their districts.
Whitsett is not the first Detroit Democrat to break from the pro-choice side of a political debate. Former Speaker Andy Dillon, for example, was not 100% behind Planned Parenthood, nor was former Rep. Triette Reeves of Detroit.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer put a positive spin on today’s news by highlighting the six bills that did move out of committee and that 56.5% of Michigan voters supported Proposal 3 last year. She also referenced an August 2023 poll from Emma White Research that found voters in competitive House seats support the Reproductive Health Act.
If found that 61% support allowing private insurance companies to include coverage for all pregnancy-related health care, including abortion. It also found 54% of Michiganders support allowing Medicaid to cover all pregnancy-related health care, including abortion.
The survey targeted the following House seats: the 27th (Rep. Jaime Churches (D-Wyandotte)), the 31st (Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Belleville)), the 38th (Rep. Joey Andrews (D-St. Joseph)), the 44th (Rep. Jim Haadsma (D-Battle Creek)), the 58th (Rep. Nate Shannon (D-Sterling Heights)), the 61st (Rep. Denise Mentzer (D-Mount Clemens)), the 83rd (Rep. John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming)), the 84th (Rep. Carol Glanville (D-Grand Rapids)), the 103rd (Rep. Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City)) and the 109th (Rep. Jenn Hill (D-Marquette)).
It also polled three Senate seats: the 11th (Sen. @Klineflet), the 12th (Sen. @Hertel) and the 35th (Sen. @Rivet).
“Today, we took an important step forward on the Reproductive Health Act, commonsense legislation to repeal politically motivated, medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion that criminalize doctors providing medical care, jack up out of pocket health care costs, and impose needless regulations on health centers,” Whitmer said.
This story courtesy of MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.