Michigan lawmakers recently announced their intentions to further advance their pro-abortion policies by doing away with a raft of laws which protect both mothers and their preborn children. This agenda includes eliminating bans on partial-birth abortion, taxpayer-funded abortion, and referrals for abortion on college campuses. Additionally, it would remove informed consent laws, a 24-hour waiting period, protections for abortion survivors, and more. And though many of the state’s pro-abortion Democrats are on board, one of them has stood out after saying she won’t vote for it.
The package, known as the Reproductive Health Act, cleared the House Health Policy Committee this week, and Rep. Karen Whitsett joined Republicans in voting against it. She also added that she will not budge on the House floor vote unless significant changes are made.
Whitsett, a Black Democrat who otherwise supports legal abortion, said she is particularly troubled by using Medicaid funding for abortion. “I will not vote and fund Medicaid abortions,” she told local reporters. “That’s not going to happen.”
Whitsett explained that Medicaid resources should be used for legitimate health care. “I will not cast a single vote to allow taxpayer money to fund elective abortions when those same dollars should be used to fulfill our duty to struggling seniors living in poverty,” she said. “Elderly citizens across our state are forced daily to make unthinkable trade-offs just to survive – deciding between food, shelter, or the medications that literally keep them alive. The choice is simple – we can either fund essential care for seniors or fund elective abortions. I choose our elders.”
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Democrats hold a slim two-seat advantage in the House, and need every vote in order for the package to pass. Yet there are other portions of the bill that Whitsett also opposes. “I do not think it is too much to ask when someone’s terminating a life, a 24-hour pause to be able to say for sure this is the decision you want to make,” she said, according to the Detroit News. “24 hours is not too much.”
Michigan Planned Parenthood Advocates wasted no time in attacking Whitsett, using hyperbole and pro-abortion rhetoric, despite Michigan’s growing status as an abortion destination in the midwest. “Every time someone must drive over 7 hours to access abortion, has to reschedule their appointment over a timestamp, or worries over how they will pay, Rep. Whitsett will be responsible,” they tweeted. “These actions are a betrayal to her constituents.”
Yet Whitsett said it is her constituents who support her actions. And though Whitsett said other Democrats are pressuring her to change her vote, she said she will not. “I didn’t get here to do an easy job,” she said. “I have a district to represent and it’s diverse. People who I have talked to in the community, this is what they want.”
