Vote Pro Life, Michigan, on November 8 - No to Proposal 3

Immediately after the Dobbs ruling, petitions proliferated in MI for a "Reproductive Freedom for All" state constitutional amendment.

While pro-lifers took a victory lap, abortion advocates were busy.  They garnered a record number of signatures.  The text is below.

This petition needs to be vigorously opposed by pro-lifers voting on November 8 in Michigan.

• Planned Parenthood had a hand in crafting this amendment.
• PP business in MI has tripled since Dobbs, with Indiana and Ohio women coming here instead.
• A door knocker advocating against Prop 3 was shot last week.  Here's the shooter.
• PP has raised $10 million to support this proposal, while those opposed have raised $400,000.
• Some objections to the petition are missing the mark ("Too confusing!"), appealing to garbled grammar/typography, which is nowhere evident in the ballot summary or actual text.
• The actual wording is problematically vague, though.  Maybe this is what they mean:

1.  - the lack of "adult" in the first bullet point below means a pregnant girl of any age can get an abortion, or be sterilized, without parental consent.
2.  - the second bullet point below is deceptive: mental health is the nose in the camel's tent.  Anything distressing the mother about the pregnancy can be cause to validate any abortion.

This truly is an extreme proposal, cloaked as a "freedom" initiative.  Society should at least regulate what minors can do to their bodies, and Christian societies will protect unborn life in every situation.  

If you're going to take a life, in utero, as an abortionist, your life should be forfeit (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:22-25).  But this is in God's hands, and the society's at the voting booth, not in any zealous, vigilante pro-lifer's hands.

TEXT ON BALLOT OF PROPOSAL 3

​Proposal 22-3 A Proposal To Amend The State Constitution To Establish New Individual Right To Reproductive Freedom, Including Right To Make All Decisions About Pregnancy And Abortion; Allow State To Regulate Abortion In Some Cases; And Forbid Prosecution Of Individuals Exercising Established Right

This proposed constitutional amendment would:

• Establish new individual right to reproductive freedom, including right to make and carry out all decisions about pregnancy, such as prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion, miscarriage management, and infertility;
• Allow state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, but not prohibit if medically needed to protect a patient’s life or physical or mental health;
• Forbid state discrimination in enforcement of this right; prohibit prosecution of an individual, or a person helping a pregnant individual, for exercising rights established by this amendment;
• Invalidate state laws conflicting with this amendment.

Should this proposal be adopted?

ACTUAL TEXT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSAL

Article 1, Section 28 Right to Reproductive Freedom

(1) Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care. An individual's right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means. Notwithstanding the above, the state may regulate the provision of abortion care after fetal viability, provided that in no circumstance shall the state prohibit an abortion that, in the professional judgment of an attending health care professional, is medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.

 

(2) The state shall not discriminate in the protection or enforcement of this fundamental right.

 

(3) The state shall not penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action against an individual based on their actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes, including but not limited to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, nor shall the state penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action against someone for aiding or assisting a pregnant individual in exercising their right to reproductive freedom with their voluntary consent.

 

(4) For the purposes of this section:

A state interest is "compelling" only if it is for the limited purpose of protecting the health of an individual seeking care, consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does not infringe on that individual's autonomous decision-making.

"Fetal viability" means: the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of an attending health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus's sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.

(5) This section shall be self-executing. Any provision of this section held invalid shall be severable from the remaining portions of this section.