Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on other Democrat politicians to pass laws protecting women’s access to abortion before the Supreme Court issued its decision on Roe v. Wade.
Liberals were tossed into a panic after a draft decision from the Supreme Court was leaked indicating that it is likely the court will overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which established abortion rights in the U.S. in 1973.
“I am not going to sit on my hands waiting for Congress to do something,” Whitmer wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times.
“Whether through legislation, executive action, ballot initiative or civic engagement, the answer to the overtly political ruling of a supposedly apolitical, unelected body is to engage in every way and at every level,” she added.
Michigan has a dormant law from 1931 banning the vast majority of abortions that is not currently in force because of Roe v. Wade. If that decision is overturned, the law becomes active, effectively banning most abortions in the state.
“If the Supreme Court does what it looks like they are poised to do, overnight, we will go from being a pro-choice state where women have full access to health care, to a state with one of the most extreme laws in the country,” said Whitmer in a speech about the decision.
Whitmer explains in the op-ed that a lawsuit she filed against the 1931 Michigan law argues for abortion rights based on the due process and equal protection clauses in the Michigan state constitution. She adds that she hopes others can use the same argument in their states to defend abortion.
“We can all sense the hopelessness and despair that tens of millions of American women — our neighbors, family members and friends — are feeling. But despair is a choice, and pessimism is a luxury,” she continued the op-ed.
“We must take unprecedented steps to protect the right to choose,” Whitmer concluded.
Here’s more about the letter from Whitmer:
Whitmer to ‘fight like hell’ against abortion ban
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