WASHINGTON — Today, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that county prosecutors are exempt from a court order that blocked the enforcement of the state’s dangerous 1931 abortion ban. This means that in Michigan, the ability to access necessary reproductive care may depend on whether you have a Republican county prosecutor. This dangerous decision is a huge win for state Republicans who advocated for the Prohibition-era law to go into effect. Despite this stunning attempt to rollback progress in the state, Democrats stand ready to fight back against this assault on abortion rights.
“This court decision puts Michiganders at risk and allows the increasingly extreme Michigan GOP to continue their deeply unpopular assault on abortion rights,” said DLCC executive director Heather Williams. “The vast majority of people in Michigan oppose the archaic 1931 law but that hasn’t stopped the GOP from trying to make it the law of the land. While Republicans push their unpopular, radical anti-abortion agenda, Democrats are fighting to protect our personal freedoms and have a clear plan to push Michigan forward economically. It is clearer than ever that the fight for abortion rights has fallen to the states, and this fall, we must elect Democrats to defend these fundamental rights.”
This court decision is deeply dangerous and the impact will be out-of-step with widespread support for reproductive rights in the state. The majority of Michiganders oppose the decision to overturn Roe, including 68% of independent voters, and even a majority of GOP primary voters support abortion in cases of rape or incest, showing how out of touch the Republicans in the state capitol are even with their own base.
In sharp contrast to this Republican extremism, Democrats in 17 states and Washington, D.C. have protected or expanded access to reproductive care. The DLCC launched the “States to Save Roe” campaign to help Democrats and the DLCC fight back against Republican attacks on abortion rights by electing state Democrats and protecting Democratic chambers that serve as a firewall for access to reproductive health care and services.
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