Board puts abortion rights question on Michigan fall ballot

A Michigan election board has placed an abortion-rights proposal on the fall ballot

Abortion Michigan (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A Michigan election board placed an abortion-rights proposal on the fall ballot Friday, obeying an order from the state's highest court and closing a record-breaking petition drive to try to amend the state constitution.

The amendment would affirm the right to make pregnancy-related decisions without interference in Michigan, including abortion and other reproductive services such as birth control.

The Michigan Supreme Court a day earlier ordered the Board of State Canvassers to put it on the Nov. 8 ballot. The board, comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans, had killed the proposal in a tie vote last week, with GOP members siding with abortion opponents who said the petition had improper or no spacing between certain words.

Chief Justice Bridget McCormack derisively called it a “game of gotcha gone very bad.” She said the words were legible and in correct order.

Supporters had submitted more than 750,000 signatures, easily clearing the minimum threshold and setting a record for a Michigan ballot initiative.

Abortion has remained legal in the state even after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade. A 1931 law that makes it a crime to perform most abortions was suspended by a judge last spring and declared unconstitutional this week.

But that decision can be appealed. If voters approve the constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights, any legal fight would be moot.

A poll published this week by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV showed abortion and women’s rights as the top issue motivating Michigan residents to vote in November, ahead of inflation, education and the economy. The poll showed a majority of likely voters supporting the amendment to protect abortion rights.

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White reported from Detroit.

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Joey Cappelletti is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.