Michigan Democrats moving closer to repealing 1931-era abortion ban

Gov Gretchen Whitmer's charge of Indiana, Ohio leadership bigoted over abortion, gay rights positions questioned

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is facing backlash over some comments she made during her State of the State address by members of the Michigan GOP.

LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Michigan Democrats are looking to move one step closer to removing the state's 1931-era abortion laws that include bans on the practice as well as contraceptives.

Now in control of the legislature, state House and Senate Democrats have a big list of priorities they announced at the beginning of the year, which included repealing the state's previous law that governed abortion.

Prior to the 2022 Midterms when the state approved a ballot measure that enshrined the right to an abortion, the prevailing law of the state was an outright ban on the procedure with the life of the mother as the only exception to the rule.

Even as the proposal passed, the 1931-era ban remains on the books.

HB 4006 is a single-sentence bill that was introduced by Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and would delete the law from the state's penal code. It will go before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

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There is also momentum in the state Senate, where the Health Policy Committee has SB 2 on the agenda Wednesday. The one-sentence bill introduced by Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) would repeal a 1931 ban on contraceptives.