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The possibility that the Supreme Court could soon overturn the constitutional right to abortion has naturally placed focus on state-level abortion laws.
Some Republican-led states have cravenly instituted what are known as “trigger laws,” a set of abortion restrictions authorized to go into effect if and when the Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 that affirmed federal abortion rights.
Michigan’s case is a bit different. The state is currently led by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who could theoretically use her power to uphold abortion rights, but a restrictive state law enacted in 1931 would outlaw the procedure if Roe were overturned.
On Tuesday, a judge suspended that law, arguing it likely defied the state’s constitution.
“After 50 years of legal abortion in Michigan, there can be no doubt but that the right of personal autonomy and bodily integrity enjoyed by our citizens includes the right of a woman, in consultation with her physician, to terminate a pregnancy,” Judge Elizabeth Gleicher wrote in her ruling.
“From a constitutional standpoint, the right to obtain a safe medical treatment is indistinguishable from the right of a patient to refuse treatment,” she added, saying the Michigan law banning abortion likely violates the due process clause of the Michigan Constitution.
The oppressive law was effectively neutered when the Supreme Court handed down the Roe decision in 1973, but there’s little doubt conservative officials in the deeply partisan state were eager to stand on it if the court eviscerates bodily autonomy for pregnant people in the coming months.
The judge's ruling stemmed from a lawsuit Planned Parenthood filed last month challenging the law. That same day, Whitmer sued 13 county prosecutors in an attempt to strike down the law.
As a proud, “pro-choice” governor, Whitmer has vowed to pull all levers of her power to uphold abortion rights in her state despite conservative attempts to stamp them out.
If Tuesday’s ruling withstands the appeal process, it will help her in that department: Whitmer won’t have to worry about navigating around the 1931 law. But the fact that her ability to protect abortion rights hinges so heavily on this one case is a sign of the fragile state these rights are in today.