Catholic Conference welcomes pro-life efforts against RHA bills | Michigan Catholic Conference

MCC urges lawmakers to support policies that protect and serve women and children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2023

(Lansing, Mich.) — “Eliminating state oversight of health and safety standards at abortion facilities only serves the interests of an industry consumed by the expansion of the abortion business in our state,” policy advocate for the Michigan Catholic Conference. Rebecca Masty, JDannounced in response to Governor Whitmer’s signing into law most of the bills today as part of a scaled back pro-abortion version of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA).

Legislative and grassroots advocacy against the RHA began long before the governor prioritized passage of the full RHA package in a speech in late August. Then, several pro-life organizations and elected officials from both political parties successfully spoke out against many of the policies in a broader package of bills introduced earlier this year.

As introduced, the RHA sought to require Michigan taxpayers to fund abortions through the Medicaid program, eliminate the 24-hour informed consent period, and remove the pre-abortion coercion check. These policies have not supported the passage of bills by a majority or members of a majority caucus in the legislature. The measures, which passed by a narrowly partisan margin, repeal licensing and inspection requirements for abortion clinics, reversing reforms passed in 2013 that first mandated state oversight of most surgical abortions in Michigan.

Repeal of accountability standards for abortion facilities is popular with voters of all demographics and persuasions, according to a national poll conducted in October by the Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group. The MRG poll found that “a large majority of Michigan voters favor maintaining long-term abortion regulations,” including 95 percent who said they support “abortion facilities that are licensed and inspected by the state for health and safety.” “.

The following comments may be attributed Rebecca Masty, JDDefender of MCC policy.

“Instead of promoting effective public policies for services and care that support pregnant women and their unborn children, Michigan’s elected officials have chosen to prioritize the abortion industry at the expense of women’s health and safety. Under the false guise of “health care,” these bills only further distance the state from protecting life and supporting vulnerable women.

“In the year since Proposition 3 was passed, the governor and legislative majority have stripped women of their protections against the dangerous practice of abortion, mandated abortion benefits for employers who provide pregnancy or childbirth insurance, and are now preparing to enact policies that welcome partial-birth births. abortions and leave the abortion industry unresponsive to the women they see.

“These policy changes would have been far worse had it not been for the conscientiousness shown by certain legislators in the face of hostility and threats from the abortion industry through the RHA debate. We are grateful to those members for their courage.

“What MCC and several other pro-life advocates said would happen after Proposition 3 is exactly what the legislative majority forced on Michigan citizens in 2023. Until the voters were told that they would only support the legalization of abortion because that is what it is. was regulated this year Roe vs. Wadethe abortion lobby used the passage of the new constitutional amendment to make Michigan an extreme outlier on abortion policy, far more than the status quo. Walnut“.

The abortion expansion bills signed by Governor Whitmer today are House Bills 4951, 4953-4956 and Senate Bills 474, 476 and 477. House Bill 4949 is expected to be signed into law later. That bill, codified in the state law provisions of Proposition 3, lifts a state ban on the late-term partial-birth abortion procedure and repeals a state law that protects people from paying for other people’s elective abortions with their health plan premiums. The watered-down RHA package, when fully signed into law, will therefore result in:

• Minimal transparency or accountability for abortion clinics due to the elimination of reporting requirements, including cases of complications during abortion.
• Aborted babies have simply been dumped in garbage bins due to the repeal of requirements for the safe and humane disposal of fetal remains.
• More abortions by college-aged women after a policy that prohibited universities and colleges from referring students to abortions was repealed by the Pregnant and Parenting Student Services Act.

“Moving forward, the Catholic Church in Michigan and pro-life organizations across the state will be vigilant in urging lawmakers to prioritize policies that help both mothers and their unborn or newborn babies get the necessities of life and good health,” Masti said. . “We invite policymakers to envision with us a society where women in difficult situations have the community and support they need to make life choices and are provided with life-affirming and loving options beyond abortion.”

The Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.

— 30 —