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ICYMI: Reproductive Freedom for All Michigan Highlights the Need for Reproductive Champions in Op-Ed
ICYMI: Reproductive Freedom for All Michigan Highlights the Need for Reproductive Champions in Op-Ed
4 years after Dobbs, Michigan’s fight for reproductive rights continues
In an op-ed published in the Detroit News, Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate, and Shanay Watson-Whittaker, director of Michigan Campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All, highlight the importance of electing reproductive champions—even in states that have voted to protect abortion access, like Michigan. While Michigan has a constitutional right to reproductive care, having people in office who can protect and expand upon that right is essential to keeping reproductive care accessible, especially in the face of escalating attacks from the Trump administration and anti-abortion states.
From The Detroit News:
Four years ago, today, the Supreme Court ruled that women across our country no longer have a right to critical, lifesaving reproductive care, including abortion. This is a matter of life and death for millions of women. We’ve all seen the cost of draconian bans: women unable to access legal health care, families forced to cross state lines, young girls forced to carry pregnancies to term. That cannot happen in Michigan. Access to reproductive care is what keeps our mothers, daughters and sisters safe. It’s what allows women to build careers, start businesses and fulfill their dreams.
That is why in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, both of us worked with leaders across our state to ensure no Michigan woman would ever have to risk her health or life to get medical care. That included successfully amending our state constitution to establish a right to reproductive care and working with Democrats in the state Legislature to repeal the 1931 abortion ban, so there were no hurdles to getting critical care and services.
But our work isn’t done. Michigan has seen access to reproductive care erode through the closure of hospitals, clinics and Planned Parenthood facilities across the state — including the only facility in the Upper Peninsula where women were able to get their yearly check-ups, cancer screenings and necessary prescriptions. The Trump administration took away the federal right to abortion, and now seems to be systematically working to strip women of access to emergency reproductive care even when their lives are on the line.
Michigan citizens may have enshrined these rights into law, but rights are only as strong as the leaders responsible for upholding them. The next governor and legislature will determine whether Michigan strengthens protections and access to care.
That’s why we are speaking out today — and why we are calling on every Michiganian who believes in reproductive freedom to do the same. This November, we need to elect leaders up and down the ballot who understand what’s at stake: governors who will be the last line of defense, legislators who won’t flinch and a coalition strong enough to ensure our citizens’ constitutional rights and protections are made real for everyone.
Michigan voters have spoken: they want to live in a state where health care ― including reproductive care ― is accessible and affordable for all. We will fight to make that happen.
Reproductive Freedom for All has begun organizing on the ground for the midterm elections earlier and in more races to elect reproductive champions down the ballot who will protect and expand reproductive care across the state. We have endorsed reproductive champions across the state, held a canvassing event in Lansing to remind voters of Representative Tom Barrett’s harmful votes to cut healthcare for thousands of Michiganders, and will continue to fight against anti-abortion lawmakers’ attacks on abortion access and care. Abortion continues to be one of the most salient issues in this election.
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
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