DETROIT — A judge on Wednesday struck down Michigan’s 1931 law criminalizing most abortions, saying it violates the principles of the state’s constitution.
The ruling follows the Michigan Supreme Court’s consideration of placing a proposed amendment that would add abortion rights to the state constitution on the Nov. 8 ballot. The deadline for when officials need to rule on the contents of ballots is Friday.
Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher’s decision is expected to be appealed to a higher court that has already undermined previous Gleicher rulings.
It is the first time a Michigan judge has weighed in on the constitutionality of abortion in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the national constitutional right to an abortion afforded through Roe v. Wade.
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“For 50 years, Michiganders have freely exercised the right to safely control their health and their reproductive destinies by deciding when and whether to carry a pregnancy to term,” Gleicher wrote in the opinion. “Eliminating abortion access will force pregnant women to forgo control of the integrity of their own bodies, regardless of the effect on their health and lives.”
The 1931 laws criminalizes all abortions except those that endanger the life of a pregnant person.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who filed her own lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the abortion ruling, thanked Gleicher for her ruling but noted it’s likely to be challenged.
“We know that there’s a group of extremists who will stop at nothing to ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest. With our rights still hanging by a thread, the Michigan Supreme Court needs to provide certainty and rule on my lawsuit to protect the right to abortion in the state constitution,” Whitmer said in a statement.
Gleicher’s latest ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed this year by Planned Parenthood of Michigan against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. In this lawsuit, Gleicher already issued a preliminary injunction that she argued should prevent Nessel and any county prosecutor from enforcing the 1931 law.
Conservative opponents have repeatedly blasted Gleicher, both for her decision to issue the injunction and for her past affiliations with Planned Parenthood. After being assigned this case, Gleicher disclosed she has repeatedly donated to Planned Parenthood.
“From a judge who donates to abortion giant Planned Parenthood but wouldn’t recuse herself, to a radical pro-abortion governor and attorney general who refuse to do their job and defend Michigan’s laws, this decision is an all-around travesty,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a national organization that opposes abortion rights.
Abortion rights advocates collected more than 750,000 signatures as part of a petition drive to get a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to an abortion onto the general election ballot.
But the petition has so far been kept off the ballot as the Michigan Board of State Canvassers refused to formally certify the proposal over spacing issues.