(WWJ) – Michigan voters will decide on the future of abortion in the state this fall after the Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the "Reproductive Freedom For All" ballot initiative to make the November ballot.
The court agreed with a complaint filed by RFFA on Sept. 1 – a day after the Board of State Canvassers voted in a 2-2 deadlock that initially kept it off the ballot.
Two Republican members of the board had voted against certification, over alleged concerts with font size and spacing issues on the petitions, which were signed by hundreds of thousands of voters.
The Supreme Court voted 5-2, meaning the initiative will go in front of voters, who will then decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
The court also voted 5-2 on the “Promote the Vote” initiative. If passed by voters, it would change Michigan’s voting rules to allow for nine days of early, in-person voting and ensure more ballot drop boxes be made available.
The votes come a day after a judge ruled Michigan's 1931 abortion law is unconstitutional.
Chief Justice Bridget Mary Justice McCormack said GOP canvassers "would disenfranchise millions of Michiganders... because they think they have identified a technicality that allows them to do so, a game of 'gotcha' gone very bad. What a sad marker of the times."
"As a wordsmith and a member of Michigan’s court of last resort, a court that routinely scrutinizes in great detail the words used in statutes and constitutional provisions, I find it an unremarkable proposition that spaces between words matter," Justice Brian Zahra said.
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