Despite constant Republican opposition to the overwhelmingly supported policy, Democrats spearheaded the RHA’s passage this legislative session
LANSING — In case you missed it, Governor Whitmer signed the final bill in the Reproductive Health Act package yesterday, cementing broader reproductive rights for all Michiganders on the ten-year anniversary of Governor Whitmer standing up to the MIGOP for restricting Michiganders’ reproductive freedom by sharing her own story of being a survivor of sexual assault.
For the last decade and beyond, Governor Whitmer has bravely fought for the reproductive freedom of all Michiganders, and yesterday, she signed pivotal legislation that will reverse the perverse requirement for Michiganders to pay extra insurance just in case they were raped or had an unwanted pregnancy.
When voters passed Prop 3 last year, they sent a clear message that Michiganders overwhelmingly support protecting and expanding abortion rights. While this hasn’t stopped extremist MAGA Republicans from trying to rip away reproductive care from our state, Democrats have listened to their constituents, and taken a leading role in passing critical legislation to defend our fundamental rights to health care.
We must not forget that the MAGA MIGOP does not care about what Michiganders want and have continuously voted against their constituents’ interests – all they care about is pushing their radical agenda down Michiganders’ throats, no matter how dangerous it gets.
In moments like this, the importance of our Democratic Governor and Democratic legislature couldn’t be more clear. It’s only through their leadership that we have been able to make all the progress we’ve seen over the past year, especially when it comes to reproductive freedom, which has proven, time and time again, to be a top issue for Michiganders.
Read more of the local and national coverage of Democrats delivering on reproductive freedom below:
NBC News: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest move on abortion highlights Democrats’ 2024 push
- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday repealed a state law that required women to have a separate rider on their insurance plans for abortion coverage.
- It’s the latest in a string of moves the Democrat has made on the issue in the battleground state after voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution last year following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
CNN: Whitmer’s push for abortion rights continues as she repeals insurance requirement in Michigan
- The controversial insurance rider requirement was approved in 2013 by the then-Republican-led legislature.
- Whitmer, then the state Senate minority leader, spoke against it at the time and revealed her own personal story. “The Republican male majority continues to ignorantly and unnecessarily weigh in on important women’s health issues that they know nothing about,” she said, according to MLive.com.
AP: Early, often and unequivocally: How Whitmer’s fight for abortion rights helped turn Michigan blue
- The bill, which Whitmer had derisively called “rape insurance” because it required women to declare when buying health insurance whether they expected to receive an abortion, passed anyway.
- But Whitmer, now in her second term as Michigan’s governor after winning reelection by nearly 11 percentage points in 2022, this week removed the requirement from state law with the stroke of a pen after Michigan’s Democratic-controlled Legislature sent her a bill tossing it aside.
Detroit Free Press: Whitmer repeals abortion insurance law she fought against a decade ago
- With Whitmer’s signature on House Bill 4949, Michigan has a new Reproductive Health Act that follows the successful 2022 ballot measure to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark abortion rights case.
- In addition to eliminating the requirement to purchase an insurance rider to cover abortions, the bill Whitmer signed Monday repeals other laws, including one requiring the state health department to prioritize funding for family planning services to entities that don’t provide abortion care.
Fox 17: Gov. Whitmer signs rest of Reproductive Health Act into law
- The signing reversed the state’s requirement to buy separate riders in order to obtain abortion insurance, according to the Michigan Executive Office of the Governor. The ban, which was passed ten years ago, had been criticized as “rape insurance…”
- This comes more than one year after Michigan voters approved Proposal 3…
- “I am proud that in just over 18 months, we have gone from the repeal of Roe v. Wade to expanding reproductive freedom in Michigan with the passage of Proposal 3 and the Reproductive Health Act,” adds Whitmer. “Let’s keep protecting every Michigander’s fundamental freedom to make their own decision about their own body.”
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