The highest-stakes battle in the United States over abortion rights is unfolding in Michigan. Abortion-related initiatives are on the ballot in many states across the country. California, Kentucky, Montana, and Vermont all have abortion measures up for a vote.
But the outcome in Michigan will have the starkest impact. In Michigan, the vote will determine whether the state’s 1931 anti-abortion law remains on the books.
The law provides no exceptions for rape or incest. It has been blocked by two different lower state courts, though the injunctions could be lifted by the Michigan Supreme Court should the amendment on the ballot fail in November.
If the amendment passes, Michigan would become the first state to overturn an anti-abortion law since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, which has made the constitutional right to an abortion at a federal level.
The vote in Michigan would also bolster abortion rights advocates’ conviction that ballot initiatives are their most viable path to restoring access in Republican-controlled states. However, if the Michigan vote fails, it would support anti-abortion movements.
In August, there was a decisive victory for abortion rights in Kansas after a vote delivered a surprise win on abortion rights. A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in the traditionally red state had a much larger turnout than expected as voters soundly rejected a ballot measure that would have removed protections for abortion rights from the state constitution.
Pending what happens in Michigan, experts expect that it will fuel efforts to put the issue on ballots in even more states in 2023 and 2024.
The future of abortion rights in Michigan is weighing heavily on the minds of many voters heading into the midterm elections according to polls. Recent polls found that 64 percent of respondents plan to vote for the ballot measure, which will ensure abortion rights in the state constitution.
The 1931 anti-abortion law was long dormant before the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
The upcoming vote has pushed abortion to the forefront in races up and down the ballot in the swing state, with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and a host of state House and Senate candidates pitching themselves as the last line of defense for reproductive freedom, regardless of the outcome of the referendum.
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