LANSING — Today marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court issuing its Roe v. Wade decision, protecting the constitutional right to abortion access. Mike Rogers, Peter Meijer, James Craig, and Sandy Pensler all have extensive anti-choice records that are out-of-step with Michiganders.
Here’s where the Republicans in the Michigan Senate primary stand on abortion:
- Mike Rogers backed an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, co-sponsored and voted for anti-choice bills that would have criminalized and banned abortion, and said he supported the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
- Peter Meijer supports a national abortion ban and opposes exceptions for rape and incest. In Congress, Meijer voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act. He called the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade “tremendous.”
- James Craig said he would do “whatever I can” to keep Michigan’s draconian 1931 abortion ban that made no exceptions for rape or incest and criminalized doctors and nurses.
- Sandy Pensler called Roe v. Wade “terrible” and “tyrannical.” He said that he has “the same position on being pro-life as President Reagan and President Trump.”
See for yourself:
The Gander: Mike Rogers tries to distance Senate campaign from his anti-abortion record
- About two months into his campaign, Rogers appears to have deployed a new strategy for winning over Michigan voters: Hoping Michiganders forget about his 14 years in Congress, and the decades that Rogers spent railing against reproductive rights and lobbying for a nationwide abortion ban.
- Rogers has long made clear that he opposes reproductive freedom in Michigan—including voicing support for a near-total abortion ban in response to an MLive candidate survey in 2010, where he clearly stated “abortions should be legal only to prevent the death of the mother.”
- More recently, after Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion care was overturned last year, Rogers reportedly told the Daily Mining Gazette that he supported the decision—and vowed to back additional restrictions to care, such as a “full ban on federal funding for abortion.”
- And had he lived in Michigan instead of Florida last year, Rogers told reporters that he would’ve voted against Proposal 3 to cement the right to reproductive freedom—including abortion care—into the state Constitution, which passed with about 56% of the vote last year.
- His congressional record is also littered with votes for anti-abortion bills. In 2012, Rogers voted for a bill that would’ve banned most abortions (without exceptions for rape or incest). And about one year later, he co-sponsored legislation with US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that sought to ban and criminalize abortions across the country.
The Gander: Anti-Abortion Republican leans on billionaire family name to boost Senate campaign
- [Meijer] has said he opposes reproductive rights—even in cases of rape and incest—and that he supports federal legislation to ban or restrict abortion.
- Last year, Meijer told the Detroit News that he supported the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and that he “does see a need for federal legislation to ban or restrict abortion.” Like Rogers, he also said he would oppose exceptions for rape or incest in that federal ban.
- Meijer also voted against the federal Women’s Health Protection Act last year, which aimed to create new federal legal protections for the right to provide and access reproductive health care.
MLive: Congressmen Peter Meijer, Bill Huizenga applaud Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade
- … “This ruling is a tremendous step toward upholding this crucial moral responsibility,” Meijer said in a prepared statement.
Michigan Advance: GOP gov. candidate James Craig says he supports abortion ban in secret recording
- Republican gubernatorial candidate James Craig said if elected he would block any attempt by Democrats to repeal Michigan’s 90-year-old ban on abortion, according to a secret audio recording obtained by Metro Times.
- Craig is asked if he would stop Democrats “from undoing the law that makes abortion illegal in Michigan.” “I will do whatever I can — I’m pro-life,” Craig responded.
The Michigan Independent: Meet Sandy Pensler, the pro-Trump Republican who just joined the Michigan Senate race
- [Pensler:] “My wife and I think that abortion is a bad thing and that government should do what it can to limit it. I think Roe v. Wade was a terrible decision by a court, really an almost tyrannical decision by nine people on the rest of the country.”
- “I have the same position on being pro-life as President Reagan and President Trump,” Pensler said in a July 2018 debate.
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