(WXYZ) — Under a newly proposed bill, a Republican state representative wants criminal penalties for Michigan doctors who perform abortions outside of doing so to save the life of the mother.
Its introduction is the latest push from Republicans at the state level to crack down on abortion rights.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer is all but certain to veto this measure.
All of this comes as the nation’s high court could, as soon as today, make a ruling on Roe v. Wade.
“It’s disturbing, it’s unsettling. It is going to set women back decades,” Governor Whitmer said.
State Representative Steve Carra proposed his “Protection at Conception Act,” on Wednesday. His bill would make a doctor guilty of manslaughter, punishable by 10 years for performing an abortion outside of the imminent danger of saving a mother's life.
His bill, which takes inspiration from a measure passed in Oklahoma, seeks to update Michigan's now-dormant 1931 abortion ban which Roe v. Wade invalidated.
He’s calling his measure, which also creates a 20-year sentence for those making, selling, or distributing abortion-inducing medicine “the most comprehensive pro-life legislation introduced in Michigan.”
“The fact that there are legislators in the Republican party who want to criminalize this, punish doctors, means it is going to have a chilling effect on medical care in so many ways beyond this one issue,” Whitmer said.
In May, a court of claims judge issued a temporary injunction on that 1931 law effectively maintaining the status quo here in Michigan as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle await the high court’s ruling.
