The battle over abortion rights in Michigan will be decided by voters this November.
That decision came down Thursday from the Michigan Supreme Court in a 5-2 vote. The ruling means voters will decide whether to place abortion rights in the Michigan Constitution.
The decision comes one day before the ballot has to be completed, and months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe V. Wade, which protected the right to abortion nationwide.
Those behind the abortion rights ballot proposal appealed to the state’s high court after the Board of State Canvassers declined to certify the proposal for the ballot. The reaction was swift to the Michigan Supreme Court’s Thursday decision to put the proposal on the ballot, giving Michigan voters the opportunity to decide for themselves.
“An overwhelming number of Michiganders signed petitions to bring these questions before the voters of our state, and their voices should not be extinguished by two unelected partisan board members,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
The Michigan Republican Party called the decision a dereliction of the court’s duty, while many Michigan doctors are hoping the proposal will pass.
“So that we can continue to help our patients make the deeply personal and private decisions around pregnancy and abortion, without politicians deciding for them,” said the Committee to Protect Health Care.
“And just like that, you can vote for Gretchen Whitmer’s abortion agenda and still vote against her,” Michigan GOP governor candidate Tudor Dixon tweeted.
“We’ve never argued the central question of ‘should abortion be legal,’” said Local 4 Pollster Richard Czuba. “We’ve never had that debate in Michigan.”
And now we will.
Czuba’s data shows the proposal has a good chance of passing.
“This polls very strongly by 2-1 margins that voters do want to put in a constitutional right to abortion,” Czuba said.
Those voters are likely Democrats, and some political insiders say that means Republicans have to go on the offensive.
The proposal’s place on the ballot should all be official Friday, when the Board of State Canvassers meets again to certify the petitions under the court’s order.