Michigan Anti-Abortion Bill, 'Most Extreme' In The Country

missesdash · Jun 8, 2012

And it looks like it's going to pass.

A massive, 60-page omnibus bill that drastically limits abortion access and could shut down all abortion clinics in the state is being rushed through the Michigan State House of Representatives on Thursday.

The bill was introduced just last week, but lawmakers held a hearing for it on Thursday morning and are sending it to a full House vote on Thursday afternoon. A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan said about 90 people showed up at the Health Policy Committee hearing to testify against the bill, but Committee Chair Gail Haines (R-Waterford) abruptly ended the hearing and cut off all testimony after a Michigan Right to Life spokesperson and only a few others were able to speak.

"We had a lot of doctors there and members of the committee asking questions about what the full ramifications of a lot of these provisions could be, and quite frankly a lot of folks couldn't answer them," said Meghan Groen, a spokesperson for PPMSM.

Specifically, the omnibus bill would criminalize all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape victims, the health of the woman or in cases where there is a severe fetal anomaly. It would require health centers that provide abortions to have surgery rooms, even when they don't provide surgical abortions. It would require doctors to be present for medication abortions and to screen women for "coercion" before providing an abortion, and it would create new regulations for the disposal of fetal remains.

The bill would also ban "telemedicine" abortions, or the use of technology to prescribe medication for abortion services and the morning-after pill.

"It could shut down most reproductive health centers in the state of Michigan," said Groen. "It's the most extreme legislation we're seeing anywhere in the country."

I honestly don't have much to say besides lots of cursing and some hair pulling. Am I reading this correctly in that if a woman's life is at risk, she can't have an abortion if it's after 20 weeks? Is a fetus officially worth more than an adult woman?

Someone tell me I've read wrong.

Story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/michigan-abortion-bill_n_1578179.html

Bill here: http://legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billintroduced/House/htm/2012-HIB-5711.htm

Snowstorm · Jun 8, 2012

I've certainly got the message that a living woman means nothing anymore. The only thing that matters is the collection of cells in her womb.

Excuse me while I go beat my pillow.

crunchyblanket · Jun 8, 2012

Michigan State House of Representatives needs a punch in the collective throat.

2012: where the rights of the unborn trump the rights of the born, and an unformed zygote's right to exist at the expense of its host is enshrined in law.

Ain't being a woman grand?

narmowen · Jun 8, 2012

I'd be moving out of state if I needed one, then. (As I'm in Michigan). Quite disgusted with my state, ATM.

Jersey Chick · Jun 8, 2012

**sigh**

Reduced to being only a vessel. Awesome. It isn't often other states do things so infuriating that they make NJ look good in comparison.

thethinker42 · Jun 8, 2012

There are about 3,000 things I could say about this, but the one I just have to say is this: Someone who's in favor of pro-life legislation has really lost sight of their own ideology when they're not willing to make exceptions for the health of the mother.

crunchyblanket · Jun 8, 2012

thethinker42 said:
There are about 3,000 things I could say about this, but the one I just have to say is this: Someone who's in favor of pro-life legislation has really lost sight of their own ideology when they're not willing to make exceptions for the health of the mother.

Hey, who cares about the mother? She's just there to incubate the shiny new life.

Jersey Chick · Jun 8, 2012

The supporters of this bill should call themselves pro-some-but-not-all life.

Freakin' hypocrites.

K.L. Bennett · Jun 8, 2012

I was already having a shitty day, so I should have known better than to click on this thread, much less the links.

This country disgusts me more and more every day.

Shadow Dragon · Jun 8, 2012

This can't be legal. Forcing doctors to choose the life of a baby over the health of the mother has to go against some federal law.

Tepelus · Jun 8, 2012

narmowen said:
I'd be moving out of state if I needed one, then. (As I'm in Michigan). Quite disgusted with my state, ATM.

Just what Michigan needs, another reason for people to leave. They must really not want people living there. Michigander here, living in Michigan's neighbor to the south.

Yorkist · Jun 8, 2012

Grrr.... anyone know how likely this is to pass the state senate and get signed in by the governor?

Also, isn't Michigan a blue state? WTF how did this happen?

Tepelus · Jun 8, 2012

crunchyblanket said:
Hey, who cares about the mother? She's just there to incubate the shiny new life.

So what if incubator dies and shiny new life goes with her? Now they have two deaths on their hands.

missesdash · Jun 8, 2012

Yorkist said:
Grrr.... anyone know how likely this is to pass the state senate and get signed in by the governor?

Also, isn't Michigan a blue state? WTF how did this happen?

I read it's expected to make it through without a problem, as it is majority R

K.L. Bennett · Jun 8, 2012

Yorkist said:
Also, isn't Michigan a blue state? WTF how did this happen?

I was wondering the same thing. And for a state in such dire straits, you'd think they could find better uses of their time.

Aarrgghh, I just want to break things!! (Mostly the faces of these "pro-life" asshats.)

RichardGarfinkle · Jun 8, 2012

I have relatives in Michigan. It's very much a mix of red and blue.

What happened to it was the 2010 election.
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/10GEN/

Just as in a lot of the rest of the country, the Republicans ran on jobs and once elected started pushing this horrific social agenda.

There's a massive derail possible on all the other awful things the new Republican Governor Rick Snyder has been doing, but we can save that for another thread.

Truth to tell, I saw this story this morning and couldn't think of a comment to post it with that wasn't a chain of expletives.

I'm hoping that this bill is so extreme it can be Federally enjoined before it comes into effect.

Devil Ledbetter · Jun 8, 2012

It never occurs to those boneheads that if when a woman dies of pregnancy complications the fetus doesn't make it either. Sanctimonious fuckwads.

Can I just get my kids sterilized?

Cranky · Jun 8, 2012

Glad to not be living in Michigan right now, but Nebraska isn't far behind on draconian laws like this.

This is beyond disgusting. These people clearly do NOT think.

Anaquana · Jun 8, 2012

Devil Ledbetter said:
It never occurs to those boneheads that if when a woman dies of pregnancy complications the fetus doesn't make it either. Sanctimonious fuckwads.

Can I just get my kids sterilized?

I have come to the conclusion that it's not about saving lives, it's about ending abortions. These politicians don't care about the fetus, the mother, or the child that may be born so long as they can be said to have gotten rid of those nasty abortions.

Alessandra Kelley · Jun 8, 2012

Yorkist said:
Grrr.... anyone know how likely this is to pass the state senate and get signed in by the governor?

Also, isn't Michigan a blue state? WTF how did this happen?

Not really. It has lots of blue areas, but they're largely poor and marginalized. The state government has been solidly red for some time.

I have family, blue and red, in Michigan, and they're decent folk. But the Michigan state government has been doing terrible things the last few years (links available if requested).

Jersey Chick · Jun 8, 2012

Anyone who thinks throwing us back to the stone age will end abortions is delusional at best. There were abortions long before they were legal and they will never go away no matter how many laws restrict a woman's right to choose.

I wonder how many of those in support of this bill also believe in the death penalty?

Like I said, pro-some-but-not-all life.

thethinker42 · Jun 8, 2012

Cranky said:
Glad to not be living in Michigan right now, but Nebraska isn't far behind on draconian laws like this.

God, not kidding. I like Omaha and all, but I won't be terribly upset when the military moves us again.

This is beyond disgusting. These people clearly do NOT think.

AMEN.

crunchyblanket · Jun 8, 2012

I just hope they're ready for the spate of deaths at the hands of back-alley abortionists, and women hurling themselves down stairs/taking to the coathanger.

Banning abortions won't stop a desperate woman from seeking one.

Devil Ledbetter · Jun 8, 2012

crunchyblanket said:
I just hope they're ready for the spate of deaths at the hands of back-alley abortionists, and women hurling themselves down stairs/taking to the coathanger.

Banning abortions won't stop a desperate woman from seeking one.

And I'm in Michigan with a daughter who just entered her fertile years.

Manuel Royal · Jun 8, 2012

Even if we stipulate that a fetus has the same rights as a person, some parts of this make no sense.

Michigan Anti-Abortion Bill, 'Most Extreme' In The Country

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