Abortion remains legal in Michigan after a judge permanently blocked enforcement of a 91-year-old ban that could have become law following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
(Bloomberg) — Abortion remains legal in Michigan after a judge permanently blocked enforcement of a 91-year-old ban that could have become law following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher issued the decision Wednesday in a victory for the nonprofit group Planned Parenthood. The ban, which was opposed in a separate lawsuit by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was on hold after a temporary ruling. The state’s Republican-dominated legislature intervened to support enforcement of the statute after Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, opposed it.
The decision barring the law’s enforcement, which may be subject to appeal, comes as reproductive rights advocates in Michigan fight to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would enshrine abortion access in the swing state.
“Issuing a permanent injunction will cause no damage to the defendant attorney general or the intervenors,” the judge wrote. “The harm to women, on the other hand, is a wholesale denial of their fundamental right to an abortion, necessitating permanent injunctive relief.”
Read More: Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade Abortion-Rights Ruling
The Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion had made the long-dormant Michigan law a threat to abortion access in the state. Several other states have already banned or severely restricted the procedure.
Responding to Wednesday’s decision, the governor pointed to the state’s highest court.
“With our rights still hanging by a thread, the Michigan Supreme Court needs to provide certainty and rule on my lawsuit to protect the right to abortion in the state constitution,” Whitmer said in a statement.
Nessel said “ensuring women have the right to make personal healthcare decisions today and in the future must be pursued at the ballot box.”
Michigan’s ban dates back to 1846 but was updated nine decades ago to add a manslaughter charge. Whitmer filed suit after a draft of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leaked in May.
Groups including Right to Life of Michigan and the Michigan Catholic Conference had filed briefs challenging Whitmer’s right to sue. Their lawyer, John J. Bursch with Alliance Defending Freedom, has said the court’s ruling ignored the lives of the unborn and wasn’t grounded in state law.
The case is Planned Parenthood of Michigan v. Attorney General of the State of Michigan, Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate, 22-000044, Michigan Court of Claims.
(Adds Whitmer comment in seventh paragraph.)
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