SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) -- Out-of-state patients are flocking to Michigan, seen as one of the few states in the Midwest where abortion is still legal.
That's according to Paula Thornton Greer, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, who says clinics across Michigan are seeing double, and even triple the average weekly number of out-of-state patients seeking abortions since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.
"I don't think it was a surprise, and it's something that we were definitely anticipating and planning for," Greer said, in an interview with WWJ Newsradio 950's Dan Jenkins.
"As you see states across the country enact these draconian abortion bans, the one thing that we know is true is that those bans don't stop people from having abortions. It only means that they need to seek essential health care in someplace that is not their own backyard...which is tragic, quite frankly."
Greear said these women coming to Michigan to get the procedure are facing some pretty tough questions.
"Do I carry a pregnancy against my will? Do I pursue an unsafe illegal alternative? Do I find some way to make it to a place like Michigan so that I can get the care that I need, and all that entails with respect to their job, their family, their school, etc., and being forced to make those decisions that they didn't have to make before."
The future of rights in Michigan, meanwhile, remains up in the air.
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A judge in September placed a permanent injunction on Michigan's 1931 law banning criminalizing abortions in almost all cases, with no exception for incest or rape.
Proposal 3, which would add protections for reproductive rights, including abortions, to Michigan's constitution goes before voters in the November 8 midterm election.
"It's very clear," Thornton said. "What the proposal (Proposal 3) is trying to do is restore the protections of Roe in Michigan. And it's keeping the abortion rights that we've had for nearly 50 years, and that's what the Reproductive Freedom for All coalition has been working towards.
"If people vote no on Proposal 3, we could go back to a law from 1931 law that makes almost all abortions a crime, even in cases of rape or incest."
On the other side of the issue, some opponents of Proposal 3 say it's too vague, too confusing, or too extreme.
Others who oppose Proposal 3 say simply that abortion should be illegal in Michigan due to their religious beliefs — such as that human life begins at conception — or for other personal reasons.
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