Vote Like Your Life Depends On It – Because it Does
Abortion is legal in Michigan thanks to the voters enshrining the Reproductive Freedom for All Amendment into our state constitution in 2022. Thanks to the continued work of abortion rights advocates in Michigan, abortion clinics are even more accessible after removing 24 hour waiting periods, mandatory biased counseling, and lifting the ban on advanced practice clinicians from providing care. While we still have a long way to go, our three metro Detroit abortion clinics are open to help patients.
But that could all change.
Our votes enshrined abortion rights into the Michigan state constitution, but they did not shield us from further attacks on our rights. At the state level, an anti-abortion legislature could chip away at our access to Michigan abortion clinics. Anti-abortion Michigan Supreme Court justices could interpret the Reproductive Freedom for All Amendment in favor of anti-abortion advocates.
At the national level, a second Donald Trump presidency could unleash Project 2025 – an extremist right wing agenda that would result in a nationwide ban on abortion. Donald Trump’s Project 2025 includes banning the abortion pill Mifepristone, rolling back privacy protections, and laying the groundwork for a total national ban on abortion. To read more about what Project 2025 would mean for abortion rights, please check out our previous blog.
Even without Donald Trump, an anti-abortion congress would be able to prevent Kamala Harris from passing legislation to protect abortion access. They could block Kamala Harris from appointing pro-choice Supreme Court Justices and federal judges. While the presidency is the highest office in our country, Kamala Harris cannot fight for reproductive rights without us also electing pro-choice representatives to every level of government.
Our lives are on the line.
Women across the country are being denied abortion care. Even when arriving in emergency rooms bleeding, suffering miscarriages, carrying ectopic pregnancies – their lives are being put at risk due to draconian bans on abortion.
Doctors cannot do their jobs when under threat of jail and losing their licenses. The confusing and ever changing legalities make practicing medicine near impossible. Every person and every pregnancy is unique. Without the ability to use every option available, doctors are forced to watch their patients suffer needlessly, endure damage to their reproductive organs, and even die.
The impact is not confined to abortion care. States like Idaho are losing OBGYNs in droves. States with abortion bans are seeing dramatic decreases in OBGYN residency applications. The result is inadequate care for every pregnant person – not just those seeking abortion care.
Fight back with your vote!
We don’t need to sit by and watch our reproductive rights be stripped away. This election, our lives are on the line. The lives of our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends are on the line.
Not only must we vote, we must do our part to make sure our friends and family are registered to vote, informed, and make it to the polls on election day. We must have difficult conversations with our loved ones about why abortion care is so important. Together, we have the power to fight back.
To find out which candidates on your ballot are pro-choice, we recommend this voter guide
And to register to vote so that you can help fight back, click right here!