(WWJ) The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years.
While the decision is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states, what does this mean for Michigan?
For the moment, nothing will change.
Michigan's law banning almost all abortions is temporarily blocked due to a court injunction, which means abortion remains legal in Michigan and available to people statewide.
In anticipation of Roe being overturned, Planned Parenthood of Michigan and the American Civil Liberties Union in April filed a lawsuit which led to a court order restraining Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel from “enforcing the unconstitutional ban against abortion providers.” The suit argues that Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban “violates the rights to liberty, bodily integrity, equal protection, and privacy under the Michigan Constitution and state civil rights laws, and that the law is unconstitutionally vague."
Renee Chelian, the president and CEO of the Northland Family Planning Center in Southfield, told WWJ Newsradio 950 that while abortion remans legal in the state they are still open and taking care of patients like they always have. She said patients do not need to be scared today.
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In response to the SCOTUS ruling, Nessel issued a statement, saying "although we knew this was coming after the leak of Justice Alito’s draft decision, it doesn’t make it any less shocking or unnerving that Americans will lose a fundamental right they’ve had for nearly my entire lifetime."
Nessel added, in a statement: "As I’ve repeatedly made clear, I will not use the resources of the Attorney General’s office to enforce an unconstitutional law that will allow the state into our bedrooms and doctor’s appointments, interfering with our fundamental reproductive rights."
However, the future of abortion access in Michigan remains foggy.
Michigan Right To Life's Anna Visser says her organization will continue fighting to put an end to abortions in Michigan.
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"We are working day in and day out to make sure that out 1931 abortion law can go back into place and be enforced as quickly as possible," Visser said, speaking live on WWJ Newsradio 950 on Friday.
Visser said she and others with the Right To Life group are "so excited" by the decision by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturn Roe.
"They decided on the right side of history today," Visser added. "And we stand by them and we thank them for their courage. You know, we've been working for the past 50 years to see this through, and we just couldn't be more excited."
Meanwhile, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she will continue to fight to keep abortion legal in Michigan. In her own lawsuit, she asked the Michigan Supreme Court to overturn the 1931 law, the governor said the 1931 ban violates Michigan’s due process clause, which provides a right to privacy and bodily autonomy that is violated by the state’s near-total criminal ban of abortion. It also violates Michigan’s Equal Protection Clause due to the way the ban denies women equal rights "because the law was adopted to reinforce antiquated notions of the proper role for women in society."
Under the 1931 Michigan law, performing an abortion in the state a felony. The law reads as follows:
“Administering drugs, etc., with intent to procure miscarriage — Any person who shall willfully administer to any pregnant woman any medicine, drug, substance or thing whatever, or shall employ any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of any such woman, unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such woman, shall be guilty of a felony, and in case the death of such pregnant woman be thereby produced, the offense shall be deemed manslaughter.” (Read the law HERE).
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