History was made in the Michigan Capitol on June 13, 2012. By a vote of 70-39, the Michigan House of Representatives approved House Bill 5711, advancing the most comprehensive prolife bill ever addressed in the state legislature. HB 5711 is a combination of 5 previously introduced bills rolled into a single, omnibus bill. The bill has become known as the “Prolife Bus.”
The Prolife Bus amends the Michigan Public Health Code to bring about long overdue reforms to the state’s abortion industry. In brief, HB 5711 will: 1) require all surgical abortion clinics to be licensed and inspected by the state. 2) require abortion clinics to screen women for coercion to abort. 3) prohibit prescribing and dispensing RU-486 abortion bills via Internet webcam connections. 4) require the humane disposition of aborted baby bodies. 5) require abortionists with bad medical records to carry a minimum amount of malpractice insurance.
Prolife citizens have long known about the horrific practices that are common in abortion clinics. In Michigan, only 4 of 30 surgical abortion clinics are licensed by the state as outpatient surgical facilities. A 52-page report issued by RLM in March 2012 documented decades of abuses of health and safety laws, and more importantly, abuses of women’s health and dignity. Over the years numerous cases have been reported of aborted babies being thrown into trash dumpsters. HB 5711 will require that these children’s bodies be treated the same as other human remains, by burial or cremation.
Recently a pregnant woman in Detroit was bound and gagged, set on fire and shot – all because the father of her unborn child did not want the child to be born. Miraculously, she and the baby boy survived. This is the kind of danger women face when they stand up to coercion to have an abortion. Tragically, many more women surrender to the pressure and abort against their will. The legislation passed by the House will make coercion to abort a crime.
This Prolife Bus has moved to the Senate, where action on it will be delayed over the annual summer legislative recess. However, action is expected as soon as full legislative sessions resume after Labor Day. RLM expresses its gratitude to the many prolife legislators who have courageously stood against pro-abortion rhetoric and a media-fabricated “war on women” to advance this bill.
To learn more about prolife legislation, visit Right to Life of Michigan at www.rtl.org.
