Abortion rights will be on Michigan’s November ballot, court rules

Volunteer Alex Cascio wears pins as she gathers signatures for a proposed abortion amendment at Ferndale Pride in Ferndale, Michigan, U.S., June 4, 2022. REUTERS/Emily Elconin/File Photo

Sept 8 (Reuters) – Michigan’s top court ruled on Thursday that voters should get to decide whether to amend their state constitution to protect abortion rights, a win for advocates who petitioned to put the measure on the November ballot.

Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion-rights advocacy group, amassed more than 730,000 signatures in support of putting a state constitutional amendment affirming the right to abortion on the general election ballot.

The group appealed to the Democratic-leaning state Supreme Court last week after the state canvassing board deadlocked. The two Republicans on the canvassing board voted against putting the amendment on the ballot, while the two Democrats supported it.

Anti-abortion groups objected to the ballot measure largely on technical grounds, saying the language of the petition contained multiple errors.

Michigan abortion rights advocates began a campaign to put the issue on the 2022 ballot months before the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June that overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that granted nationwide constitutional protection for abortions.

“We are energized and motivated now more than ever to restore the protections that were lost under Roe,” Reproductive Freedom for All spokesperson Darci McConnell said in a statement.

The ruling was the second major victory for abortion rights supporters in Michigan this week. On Wednesday, a state judge ruled that an abortion ban that had been on the books since 1931, which made no exceptions for rape or incest, violated the state’s constitution and could not be enforced.

Mark Brewer, an attorney who represents several reproductive rights groups in Michigan, said the ballot measure would still be important to ensure future abortion access in Michigan because the Court’s enjoinment of the 1931 law could be appealed or overturned.

“The best way to protect the right to choose in Michigan is to put it in the state constitution,” Brewer said in an interview.

Last month, voters in Kansas soundly rejected a proposed amendment to their state’s constitution that would have allowed the state legislature to ban abortion. It was the first statewide test of voter sentiment on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe. read more

Other states including Kentucky and California will have statewide referendums on abortion rights on their November ballots, and the issue is figuring prominently in Michigan’s competitive governor’s race, as well as contests in several other states.

Reporting by Gabriella Borter
Editing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot

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