LANSING, Mich. – There are multiple new developments in the battle over abortion rights in Michigan.
One involves the court battle over a 1931 law. The other is the massive response to a petition drive aiming to defend reproductive rights in Michigan.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asked the federal government to weigh in on what Michigan residents’ rights are if they cross the border into Canada for reproductive care. Her inquiry comes as the Michigan GOP-led Legislature is asking the court of appeals to halt a preliminary injunction that is preventing the 1931 law -- which criminalizes abortion -- to go into effect.
According to the brief, the Legislature claims the judge who made the ruling engaged in judicial overreach. If the Legislature is successful, the 1931 law would then go into effect. It would put the women who seek abortion and the doctors who perform them at risk of criminal charges.
While the GOP-led Legislature is making that move, the Reproductive Freedom For All group has secured 800,000 signatures -- they only needed around 425,000.
Read: Abortion migration to Michigan increasing in wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned