The abortion industry in Michigan has a biennial custom of hosting a press conference promoting legislation that will never see the light of day. Yesterday this custom took place again, with another package of unpopular bills being introduced that have zero chance of passing.
We don’t think the bills themselves deserve a lot of media attention because of their unpopularity and futile future. They do however offer an insight into how the abortion industry would like Michigan to operate if pro-abortion legislators held majorities in the Legislature. Let’s briefly touch on each bill they introduced.
HB 4760 would eliminate the 24-hour waiting period before abortions. Waiting periods are broadly supported by the public.
HB 4761 would repeal our Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act, forcing Michigan taxpayers to fund abortions. The public broadly opposes tax-funded abortions.
HB 4762 is extremely vague and mostly seems directed against our state’s law requiring informed consent before an abortion. The legislation in-part says that the state may not prohibit “a medical service that is evidence-based and appropriate for a patient.” Partial-birth abortions are cruel and barbaric—involving stabbing a baby in the head during the birth process—but the abortion industry argues it is effective and medically appropriate. Informed consent is broadly supported and partial-birth abortions are strongly opposed by most Americans.
HB 4763 would formally legalize abortion past the point of viability in Michigan, up to the moment of birth. The bill would also allow Gosnell-style abortion clinics, striking down any state regulation that would force an abortion clinic to close, essentially banning health officials from any oversight. Late-term abortions are opposed by most Americans, and allowing the abortion industry to operate free of any medical oversight is dangerous.
HB 4765 would force hospitals to perform abortions in Michigan. Recently pro-abortion groups have been trying to force Catholic medical facilities to provide abortions through the courts. Americans broadly reject forcing doctors and nurses to perform abortions.
If Planned Parenthood ran the state of Michigan, abortions would be taxpayer-funded and legal right up to and including the process of birth. Women would be kept in the dark when it comes to informed consent about abortion. Abortion clinics would be uniquely exempt from any state health regulations. The many Catholic or other health care services and ministries in the state that object to taking innocent human life would be forced to close or participate directly in abortion.
Michigan would become the wild west of the culture of death if these bills ever passed. The Kermit Gosnell case showed what happens when state officials look the other way as the abortion industry is left to regulate itself.
