Michigan voters enshrine abortion rights in state constitution

by Nathaniel Weixel - 11/09/22 3:37 AM ET

Associated Press/Paul Sancya
FILE – Abortion rights protesters attend a rally outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on June 24, 2022, following the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Voters will decide whether to place abortion rights in the Michigan Constitution, the state Supreme Court declared Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, settling the issue a day before the fall ballot must be completed.

Abortion will be protected in Michigan, after voters were projected to pass a ballot initiative enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution, according to The Associated Press.

Abortion is currently legal in Michigan, but only because of temporary orders from judges. The state has had a strict abortion ban on the books since 1931 that does not allow for any exceptions, including for rape or incest, and makes performing abortions a felony.

The passage of the ballot measure means the law will not be allowed to take effect, and makes Michigan the first state to overturn an abortion ban since the Supreme Court struck down the landmark abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade in June.

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Advocates had been working on the ballot initiative since last fall, but the effort took on new urgency once a draft opinion leaked in May that showed the court was going to overturn Roe and end the federal right to an abortion.

Since then, advocates have been scrambling to enact state-level abortion rights protections.

The “yes” vote comes on the heels of a similar result in Kansas in August, and will likely fuel a push to put abortion rights onto other state ballots in the coming years.

Tags 2022 Ballot Measures 2022 midterms Abortion abortion rights ballot measure Michigan Roe v. Wade