We need your help in the next few days. The Michigan Senate passed SB776 the ban on so-called Òpartial-birthÓ abortion on Tuesday, January 22. The bill mirrors the federal ban on Òpartial-birthÓ abortion that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Carhart II last April. Proponents want a Michigan ban so that the resources of local county prosecutors and the Michigan Attorney General can be used against doctors suspected of performing Òpartial-birthÓ abortions in Michigan. There is no health exception in the bill. The bill describes abortion procedures that may be used as early as 12 weeks of gestation. This is just one more step in abortion opponentsÕ effort to incrementally ban all abortions. We have to oppose it vigorously. There are more anti-choice bills waiting in the wings should this bill pass.
Now the action moves to the Michigan House where the Democratic majority and its leadership are trying to cope with the 52 House Republicans (who are all anti-choice) from tie-barring the Òpartial-birthÓ abortion ban to unrelated bills the Dems want to pass. The House Democratic Caucus is 38 pro-choice, 3 mixed, and 17 anti-choice, so the issue is very divisive for them.
It just so happens that the House Democratic Caucus is going on retreat to set their goals for the remainder of the year this Sunday (February 3) through Tuesday. How to handle the Òpartial-birthÓ abortion issue will be high on their agenda. The Choice Coalition, of which Michigan NOW is a member, is urging member organizations to contact pro-choice House Democrats before the retreat to urge them to hold the line on choice and do everything in their power to block consideration of the Òpartial-birthÓ abortion ban bill at all, or amend it significantly so that womenÕs health is protected.
Elected officials respond best to communications from their own constituents. If you have a pro-choice Democratic House member in your district, we need you to contact them to give, in your own words, the following message:
á Thanks for being pro-choice. ItÕs one of the reasons I voted for you.
á Now is the time for you to steadfastly support choice and womenÕs health as the ban on so-called partial-birth abortion is considered by the House.
We need emails in pro-choice House member boxes before Sunday. They need to know you are watching and expecting them to support choice, even when anti-choice advocates use words and phrases designed to arouse revulsion by those not exposed to descriptions of any surgical procedure, much less surgical abortion.
Here is a list of pro-choice House members who need to be contacted before Sunday:
Pro-Choice or Mixed Position Michigan House Members
*Mixed Position on Choice
ArenÕt sure who your Michigan House member is? Find your federal and state officials by your zip code at www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
Need information about Òpartial-birthÓ abortion? Go to www.now.org or American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Press Release explaining why it opposes a ban on Òpartial-birthÓ abortion www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr09-22-06.cfm
Doctors say a ban on intact dilation and extraction, the procedure most nearly like Òpartial-birthÓ abortion, forbids options they need if they are to practice the safest and best medicine to preserve a womanÕs health. The intact dilation and extraction abortion method is safer because there are fewer insertions of instruments into the uterus, it reduces risk of perforation, reduces the likelihood of retained fetal tissue, reduces blood loss, and shortens the time of anesthesia exposure. These are significant advantages for women with serious medical conditions such as previous hysterotomy or cesarean section with a vertical scar; where the fetal skull is too large to exit a partially dilated cervix, where the woman has placenta previa and accreta, chorioamnionitis, or where the fetus has abnormalities such as severe hydrocephaly or other anomalies incompatible with lifeutside the womb. (See Brief of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as Amicus Curiae Supporting Respondents, in Carhart II, 550 USSC ____.)
Here is a link to a copy of Michigan SB 776
Thank you for your activism. Without it, Michigan NOW cannot be a force to protect womenÕs rights.
*Mixed Position on Choice
ArenÕt sure who your Michigan House member is? Find your federal and state officials by your zip code at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
Need information about Òpartial-birthÓ abortion? Go to www.now.org or American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Press Release explaining why it opposes a ban on Òpartial-birthÓ abortion http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr09-22-06.cfm