Due to a relatively new pro-abortion amendment in the state, pro-abortion groups in Michigan are now suing the state to undo even the most basic informed consent and safety measures for women seeking abortions. A lawsuit filed by Northland Family Planning Centers in conjunction with Medical Students for Choice against Attorney General Dana Nessel, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs acting Director Marlon I. Brown, and Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel, seeks to end the state’s 24-hour abortion waiting period and more.
Current state requirements do not allow advanced practice clinicians to commit abortions (physicians may only commit abortions under current law). Current law also requires informed consent for women seeking abortions in order to prevent abortion coercion, requiring certain information to be shared with them prior to an abortion, as well as a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can obtain an abortion after receiving the required information. “These requirements also perpetuate the false idea that pregnant Michiganders need the State’s paternalistic intervention,” the lawsuit said. “Michiganders have now stated through the RFFA, in the most forthright terms, that they do not need the state to help them decide what health care is best for them.”
Michigan has been undergoing a transformation since a majority of voters passed a pro-abortion state constitutional amendment in November 2022. Since then, numerous pre-existing laws are now being stripped away in order to come into alignment with the new amendment. However, the 24-hour waiting period and other aforementioned stipulations remain, despite a pro-abortion legislative majority — prompting the lawsuit from the pro-abortion groups. Pro-abortion Attorney General Dana Nessel has declined to comment, as the case is still being reviewed.
“Despite our win with Proposal 3, patients continue to face onerous barriers to care imposed by Michigan law. These barriers should not exist under the RFFA,” said Renee Chelian, executive director of the Northland Family Planning Centers. This is the same Chelian that was caught by the Center for Medical Progress joking about shocking funeral homes with aborted baby remains and suggesting incineration be used to dispose of fetal remains rather than garbage disposals — to prevent public outrage.
Waiting periods are common informed consent measures, and were designed to allow a person to fully consider decisions and allow a chance for reconsideration, should there be any coercion or altered consciousness affecting the person’s initial decision. For abortion, the waiting period allows the abortion-minded women a chance to fully think about the usually irreversible decision she is about to make, to consider other life-saving options and resources, and to prevent a coerced abortion. Past research has indicated that as high as 64% of women with a history of abortion felt pressured in some way into having an abortion. Ireland’s controversial three-day waiting period is believed to have potentially saved over 2,600 babies whose mothers didn’t return for their second abortion appointment. The abortion industry is aware that preventing a delay along with other informed consent also prevents women from having the chance to learn all their options and to potentially change their minds about aborting their children.
