Question 1): The 11-bill Democrat-sponsored “Reproductive Health Act” is facing bipartisan opposition in the Michigan House of Representatives. Part of the package includes allowing taxpayer dollars to fund elective abortions. The legislation also includes legalizing late-term (aka partial-birth) elective abortions and repealing a requirement for ‘informed consent.’ Is this a political overreach by Michigan Democrats?
Answer 1): Yes, at least in part because majority Democrats seem to be unaware of Michigan political history, or are ignoring it.
In fact, the bill legalizing Medicaid-paid abortions has already been rejected by voters, way back in 1988. A year earlier, in 1987, an initiative petition was launched to BAN Medicaid-paid abortions in Michigan. The petitioners successfully collected the necessary number of signatures, validated by Democratic Secretary of State Richard Austin.
The petition then went to the Legislature, which had 40 days to do one of three things — 1) Ignore the petition, in which case the language would have gone on the November, 1988, statewide ballot for voters to approve or reject; 2) Reject the petition, by the same simple majority vote in each chamber, in which case it would also have gone on the ballot; or 3) Validate the petition, by the same simple majority vote of both the House and the Senate. The Legislature chose Option #3 — in which case THE PETITION LANGUAGE BECAME LAW.
It should be noted that the Legislature at that time consisted of a 20-18 Republican majority in the Senate AND A WHOPPING 64-46 DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY in the state House, meaning that A BIPARTISAN MAJORITY OF BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS IN THE LEGISLATURE APPROVED OF THE LANGUAGE IN THE PETITION, BANNING MEDICAID-PAID ABORTIONS.
But wait!! The constitution also gives power to the citizenry to mount ANOTHER petition calling for a REFERENDUM on any bill enacted by the Legislature to be subject to a statewide vote. Pro-choice/abortion rights activists mounted a petition drive calling for a referendum on what the Legislature had done. This petition drive also was successful, and the Legislature couldn’t stop it.
So the question went on the November 1988 ballot, where MICHIGAN VOTERS APPROVED THE INITIATIVE PETITION LANGUAGE WHICH HAD BEEN VALIDATED BY THE LEGISLATURE. THE VOTE WASN’T EVEN CLOSE —roughly 57% of the state’s voters cast ballots to approve the new law “to prohibit use of public funds for the abortion of a recipient of welfare benefits unless abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother.”
So PA 59 of 1987 was adopted and has been state law ever since. It is the only post-Roe v. Wade abortion question ever to appear on the ballot in the past half-century, other than Proposal 3 in 2022. There has never been any attempt by anybody or any interest group to rescind PA 59 in the past 35 years. In other words, today’s legislative Democrats are now seeking to overturn a law that many of their own party’s members of the Legislature in 1987-88 voted to approve, as did the state’s voters. To rescind PA 59 doesn’t require a 3/4 majority in the Legislature, because that kind of a super-majority vote is required only to overturn an initiative petition, not a referendum, which the 1988 vote was.
Legalizing Medicaid-paid abortions seeks to expand on Proposal 3, approved by voters in last year’s election. Scuttling PA 59 is just one of the legislation’s many moving parts, each of which may be objectionable to one or more legislative Democrats. Majority House Dems have already separated out any attempt to invalidate a state law requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortions, which polls show a majority of voters support. Democrats feared that that would be too heavy a lift for a caucus that has only one vote to spare. It would be too dangerous politically to pursue, so they did not include it in their package. But they also should remove several other relatively popular items on their wish list — such as getting rid of state law mandating informed consent and prohibiting ‘partial birth abortions’ and Medicaid-subsidized abortions. If they don’t, they’re playing with fire going into next year’s election.
**************************************
Question 2): Why hasn’t Governor Whitmer been more visibly involved with the UAW strikers?
Answer 2): It’s somewhat surprising she hasn’t been, but she’s scared. With her prominent role in the Biden campaign, she should be right by Joe’s side when he became the first president to join a UAW picket line, in Metro Detroit last week. Whitmer doesn’t have to run for re-election, so she doesn’t have to worry about alienating moderate or conservative voters, at least for now. The principal reason she might want to distance herself from the strikers is because she claims she’s committed to economic development, particularly to attracting out-of-state and foreign manufacturing and other business enterprises, so to have her joined at the hip with UAW president Shawn Fain may not be a good look. Plus, this strike is a ticking time bomb politically that could explode in Biden’s and the Democrats’ faces somewhere down the road, and Whitmer doesn’t want to get hit by the flying debris.
*****************************************
Question 3): Former President Donald TRUMP leads President Joe BIDEN in seven important ‘purple’ states according to an online Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,413 adults conducted between Sept. 8 and Sept. 14. According to the results, Trump led with 41 percent to Biden’s 35 percent in Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada. But what do polling results of this sort actually tell us?
Answer 3): Only that Trump is in a far stronger position than anyone expected him to be at this point in the four-year election cycle, and that Biden is surprisingly weak. Trump has put huge distance between himself and the Republican primary field, and he’s holding his own with the general electorate. The indictments seem to have actually helped him. So has his decision to ignore the first two GOP presidential debates. There is still a long way to go, and with two candidates this old something catastrophic could well happen within the next year. Also, there’s the question of whether indictments necessarily lead to convictions, and, if so, will they come before the election?
***********************************************
Several points about Donald Trump:
(A) the indictments have been a virtual Comedy of Errors with the frivolous New York prosecution actually interfering with the Washington D.C. prosecution and the Georgia case brought by Fani Willis bound to be heard after the 2024 presidential election – Willis admittedly did not coordinate with Jack Smith on anything and it is unclear if anything will be accomplished prior to Election Day 2024.
(B) Trump earned $7 million in royalties from the Fulton County mugshot and even Michael Cohen – his former attorney and current critic – complained how authorities in Atlanta rolled out the red carpet for his arraignment;
(C) presidential polling since last Sunday has revealed Trump is as high as 10% over Biden nationally with no real opposition for either within his own respective party;
(D) The Hunter Biden indictment and Joe Biden impeachment inquiry is undoubtedly been harmful to President Biden among prospective voters as well as Trump being cheered by striking UAW workers;
(E) Trump’s continual popularity among Michigan Republicans has endured despite the fact the state party organization has little money and is engulfed in highly-publicized internal strife.
Hi Biil;
Today I am going to be incredibly direct as a grandmother of a six week old baby as a mother of two children. They have to hopefully get out of this mess at some point, but there’s no end in sight so my words may sound harsh and I apologize if they do but here’s how I feel.
Q1. Late term abortions absolutely are excruciating on the baby that could be birthed and they’re literally ripped apart on a latte term abortion. I know this for a fact from the line of work I did & this is sick. Birth control is free at any health department any doctors office wherever so men and women need to take that “free protection “ as opposed to endured torturing of an unborn late term abortive procedure.
Q2. Whitmer doesn’t care about the UAW nor the effects on contracted suppliers that will take many many years to recover from. . This is an absolute nightmare! She cares about her next job. I would guess that she wants some appointment in Washington DC at the executive level or to be vice president, which is pretty darn scary. I do not believe she cared about the people in Michigan or our water, contamination,. The EV battery plants are another example of the contamination and the lack of EV charging stations .But I am of the opinion that she does not care, and I am convinced of that fact .
Q3. I have a lot of friends in northern Michigan going up 75 and up and over the bridge. They are all Trump supporters and his numbers are just going up and up and up. People are tired of this I believe that if he indeed is continuing to run. I hope he has a strong VP running mate on the GOP ticket This is what I’m hearing from my numerous friends from the north and I get it.
Thank You, Mr Ballenger! Great Report!
X Cheri
Nice article, Bill. A good history lesson for the legislature. They should subscribe. Now for some comments.
QUESTION 1: I think the Democrats don’t care, and they still plan on using abortion as an issue in 2024. Given Joe Biden’s poll numbers, what else are they going to do?
The Democrats have a small majority in both houses of the legislature, but they are acting as if it is a large majority – go big or go home seems to be their motto. Sometimes it works.
As for Medicaid funded abortions, apparently at least one of them, State Rep. Karen Whitsett, is saying NO. The MICRC drew her district down into Dearborn. The Muslim faith is much less “pro-choice” than today’s Democratic Party. There is a range of thought there depending on which school of thought you adhere to (the Hanafi madhhab is the most lenient; while the Malikis are the most strict), but all are in unanimous agreement that abortion cannot be undertaken due to fear of poverty. The reason for this is that this mindset collides with having faith and trust in Allah. Allah reminds us in the Quran:
((وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ كَانَ خِطْئًا كَبِيرًا))
“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty, We provide for them and for you. Indeed, their killing is ever a great sin.” (Al-Israa, 31. The source of this content is Reem Shaikh in Muslim Matters dated May 21, 2019.
As for Representative Whitsett, she is an elected representative who may be paying attention to her constituents. Imagine that. Interesting note, she represents the district that my family lived in when my family lived on Greenfield in Detroit decades ago.
As for partial birth abortions and parental notification, they will probably take a page from the Republican playbook on right to work and pass it in lame-duck session, assuming they break Whitsett.
A more interesting question will they attempt to overturn MCL 750.90b(a) that states “If the conduct results in a miscarriage or stillbirth by that individual, or death to the embryo or fetus, a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 years or a fine of not more than $7,500.00, or both.” It actually gives status under the law to the fetus. Or would it be better to allow someone currently imprisoned under this to challenge their present incarceration?
QUESTION 2: A profile in courage she is not. She wants higher office, lacks the wealth of J. B. Pritzker of Illinois, and it becomes much harder to win higher office when you irritate the donor class.
It would have been fun to watch if the strike happened this time last year. We would get a chance to see how populist Tudor Dixon was, and whether Gov. Whitmer been more pro-labor?
QUESTION 3: Those numbers scare some Democrats. David Ignatius of the Washington Post, Timothy Garton Ash of The Guardian (British paper), and others, have suggested it is time for President Biden to step down. And Kamala Harris’ numbers are even worse.
It seems odd, but the more legal trouble/issues that Trump has, the more popular he becomes. Whatever it is, he has struck a chord with millions of Americans. Ya think that someone would want to find out what that was and try to address it. If they don’t, Trump will and we may see Round Two of Trump v. Biden. Politics as entertainment, now that would be fun to watch!
Oops, I forgot to mention Bill Maher as one of those encouraging President Biden to drop out. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
“You are on a whole new level of lunacy if you think abortion is a human right. According to the UN, human rights are the right to life and liberty, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education. How does abortion fit here?”
– Rola Makki, R.N., Vice-Chair of Michigan Republican Party and Arab Muslim resident of City of Dearborn
I agree. I was simply quoting “Muslim Matters” and the last results in the 2022 election showed significant loss of votes for folks like Tlaib and Nessel. Representative Whitsett has strayed from the party line, and that is a good thing. She is representing her constituents. Lansing needs more of that.
Hey Bill. Very intriguing questions. Please allow me to make a couple comments . . . in reverse question order . . . ,
Question 3) With-respect-to (wrt): Trump v Biden: I am becoming more inclined both will not be our ’24 candidates,
– It doesn’t matter if DJT wins all on appeal. All it takes will be 1 hit out of 91 counts and he will be fighting for his life (literally) to stay out of jail. One hit in Georgia and he will be serving time for at least a year before he can appeal (as I’ve heard).
– Again assuming Joe remains vertical, declining polls appear to be piling up to trigger an anti-viral (pun relative to Covid?) response from the DNC. I see Gavin Newsom as the favorite with Gov. Whitmer a strong number 2, and likely his VP candidate.
Question 2) wrt Gov. Whitmer and the UAW, can I speculate that she may feel if she gets involved then she will need to take a position wrt unionizing the potential battery plants coming to MI. While putting on a mild face to support unionizing, I think Ford has already drawn a line indicating there may be no plant(s) if unionizing is involved. I’m not sure she can run that risk of alienating the big 3 that way.
Question 1) wrt the abortion question in MI. I think the Dem election sweep in ’20 sets MI up as the main counter-balance to the anti-abortion crowd in America. To me, it comes down to whether a fetus is a life, or becomes a life, or not. Usual sensibilities would tend to say that sometime along the gestation timeline, a fetus becomes a viable life. If it does, then, yes, we are talking about taking life. But it seems abortion has been too politicized for folks in MI to be able to speak sensibly to the subject. So, while I applaud any rational discussion, I think the radicals will prevent any budge from the current unbalanced stance this state has taken. MI has nullified itself from the debate. Any change, I think, will be precipitated by events that will occur in other states. Sad
Thank you Bill for a thorough history of the Legislature and reproductive rights which are now in the Michigan Constitution. I’m tired of exploiting the sanctity of life for the purpose of garnering VOTES. My Uncle was an OB/GYN and my Mother was an RN in Labor & Delivery at Sparrow and Wyandotte hospitals-also she was the youngest of 12 VanderVens, who were all raised in Holland Michigan pure Dutch family it’s time to regard the sanctity of life and the sanctity of the relationship between a woman and her Doctor.
Mister Spock would say the extinguishing of a human life in the (once) inviolable sanctity of the womb is “Illogical”. Evil is evil, no matter which face it has on it. Thanks Bill, for your acute observations!
One wonders if the Proposition-3 vote tally really voiced the true belief of the Michigan Citizens .The massive infusion of Nation – wide sources of “Dark outstate Money” as revealed by investigative Journalism ,enabled Proponents ,to shape the Issue into an emotionally based Proposition rather than one determined by Facts and Reasoning .With non-transparency of governance, now the norm in Michigan ,” Dark Money “will play an even larger role in shaping the 2024 ballot. Massive infusion of cash appears to interfere with the integrity of the voices within the electoral process .
Outstanding read! Kudos to Senator Ballenger for this informative piece. A few thoughts. . .
1. I certainly hope that the same party/ ideology/ people who say “my body, my choice” at least have enough intellectual and ethical consistency to accept that said individual(s) — and not the taxpayer — also and accordingly shall pay for the abortion should they desire one. Fair is fair!
2. You are darned right that Whitmer is “scared” vis-a-vis the UAW strike. This is not a cute social media Barbie moment with no political downside.
3. The GOP could do worse in 2024, as unoriginal as it may be, to simply regurgitate Reagan’s famous quip in 1980 while debating Carter: “are you really better off than you were four years ago”. From fentanyl, a Swiss cheese border that has seen 7 million people cross our border without proper documentation, surging crime rates, and a stagflation rate that rivals Carter, Reagan’s famous zinger is undeniably apropos. Trump stole “Let’s Make America Great Again” from Reagan, so why not steal that line, too? Independent polls consistently show that 20-25% of American people believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction. That is directly attributed to Joe. The fish rots at the top.
4. Never a towering intellect, Joe (of whom Obama said: “never underestimate Joe’s ability to F-things up”) has been freeloading off of the taxpayers’ dime for 50 years with little to show for it other than benefitting his brother and son through grift and influence-peddling. He would be the worst president in US history if it were not for James Buchanan preceding Lincoln. America deserves better.