War on Women Continues in Michigan

by Kari Belsheim

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen. The War On Women continues to rage (and enrage) in Michigan as two more abortion limitation bills reach Governor Rick Snyder’s office.

The Senate voted 27-10 to pass a bill that expands licensing requirements for abortion clinics—one of which stipulates the size of medical areas. That detail alone would shut down several clinics.

The second bill, which passed in to the full House, stipulates the right of health care providers to refuse service based on moral or religious objections. With or without this bill, physicians have a tendency to flock together based on whether or not they perform certain procedures (i.e. abortions, blood transfusions, etc.), but in the guise of protecting the autonomy of physicians this bill will remove patients’ access to care.

Another bill that is awaiting Snyder’s signature requires women on the state’s health insurance exchange to purchase abortion coverage in addition to their policy. Since abortion isn’t exactly something you plan for, this will limit women’s access even more.

Democrats attempted to amend the bills to include similar stipulations for vasectomies, but they did not pass.

The Michigan section of ACOG also disagrees with the bills, and Colin Ford, the director of state and federal regulations for the Michigan State Medical Society, said the bills “seemed unnecessary.” Michigan Republicans promote the bills as “pro-woman,” but clearly the medical community disagrees. If you’d like to share your opinion with Governor Snyder, you can contact him here.

 

Image via rhrealitycheck.org

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