Michigan Senate and House Majority Republicans Will Usurp the Public’s Right to Vote on an Abortion Ban
As I pointed out in a public meeting, Republicans have had control of the Michigan Senate since 1992, the House two-thirds of the time, and the governorship two of 3 times up till Gretchen Whitmer came to office. Yet under the control of Republicans, the state’s infrastructure is crumbling, its economy has decreased when compared to other nearby competitive states, and employment Participation Rate still has not returned to what it was pre-2008 when the Republicans left a nation’s economy in shambles and a large deficit.
The one thing Republicans are good at is attacking the rights of everyday citizens, a woman’s right to birth control and information, the rights of minorities to societal equality, and the rights of those living homeless and in poverty. In Michigan, the majority Republican legislature mostly sponsored by creative districting will pass a veto – proof bill based upon petitions from those who wish to deny women the right to decide rather than put the decision on a ballot initiative in Michigan.
From Bloomberg Law:
“Anti-abortion group Right to Life Michigan said it handed in more than enough valid signatures Dec. 23 to put its proposed ban of dilation-and-evacuation abortion procedures before the Legislature in 2020. The procedure, which dismembers the fetus, is the most common second-trimester abortion operation.
The vote would be held under a divisive process that allows the Michigan House and Senate to adopt citizen referendums headed to the ballot on a majority vote not subject to veto. Right to Life of Michigan has used the referendum-to-adoption process four times in the past when a governor opposing abortion restrictions proved a barrier in Lansing, and the group says it already has assurances from GOP leaders in the House and Senate that the ban will be adopted.
‘The 379,418 people who signed their names on this life-saving dismemberment ban should be confident that our prolife majorities in the Michigan Legislature will pass the bill again, just like they did back in May,’ Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing said in a Dec. 23 statement.’”
Michigan Edges Toward Ban on Common Abortion Procedure, Bloomberg Law, December 23, 2019
How does this remotely resemble democracy when 400,000 people decide the rights of 10 million? As best I can tell the forced birthers are a relatively small minority of the population but have a disproportionate influence on Republicans along with the stone cold racists. The crony capitalist Republicans are going to have to vote for the Democrats for awhile until a party emerges which better reflects their views. Suburban Republican women made the switch at the federal level in 2018. Let’s hope they do it at the state level too this year and convince some of the men in their lives to make the same switch.
Terry:
The state normally votes Dem as they can not gerrymander the state in national or statewide referendums. The last national election for the president was a fluke in that people were convinced to vote for anyone but Trump or Clinton. Instead they voted for Libertarians, Communists, Greens, etc. at historic rates (5 times what is was in the past) and ended up with Trump. If it went to a ballot initiative, it would mostly fail and the minority Repubs know this.
Run, I know the very same thing happened in Wisconsin. The Republicans seized control in 2010 and have used it to gerrymand Madison and Milwaukee into corners and dilute other pockets of Democrat support. The result is super majorities in the Senate and Assembly despite more votes being cast for Democrats than for Republicans and the election barely of a Democratic governor. The fact remains that the Republicans will continue to oppress the majority unless some of their supporters say “enough”. That actually happened in Wisconsin at the end of the McCarthy era when a split among Republicans lead to the resurgence of the Democrats who had been moribund in state politics for 40 years.
Terry:
The Repubs in Michigan are disgustingly bold. They are not afraid to announce they will fix districts so as to give them the electoral advantage and in a derogatory manner. I think Wisconsin will change again as time passes. Michigan has been dong this since the nineties. Slowly the Repubs are dropping into the minority. We in WI and MI are going to win.