GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — One thing is clear: abortion remains legal in the state of Michigan.
Still, there are legal cases that get confusing. FOX 17 is breaking them down.
The big question was highlighted by Professor of Law Michael McDaniel with WMU Cooley Law School in an interview on Tuesday.
“It’s confusing as to what’s happened in the last two weeks, and in the last two months. What people need to know, what your viewers need to know, is does the Michigan constitution protect the right of privacy in a way that is broader than the protections in the US Constitution?" said McDaniel.
That will likely be up to the Michigan Supreme Court to decide, McDaniel said. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said the same.
"It’s beyond the prosecutor’s purview to make that call,” Becker said.
Currently, a ruling at an Oakland County Circuit Court means that prosecutors cannot bring forth cases based on a Michigan law on the books, written in 1931.
“So right now, under the Oakland County Circuit Court Case, all prosecutors in the state of Michigan are enjoined by order of Oakland County Circuit Court, from prosecuting individuals for performing abortions under the 1931 abortion law in Michigan,” McDaniel said.
Precedent regarding how to proceed under that law is sparse.
“There’s not a whole lot out there, because it’s basically been dormant for 30 years,” Becker said.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker recently won an appeal that would allow county prosecutors to pursue charges under the 1931 law. Becker has no current cases he is attempting to prosecute, stating his decision to pursue legal action had to do with a matter of principle.
“The whole idea was that somehow we’re under the control of the Attorney General’s office, and that’s clearly not the case. I think if you ask all 83 Michigan prosecutors, they’re going to agree with that,” Becker said.
A previous decision, made in the Court of Claims and brought forth by Attorney General Dana Nessel, barred county prosecutors from bringing forth such cases based on the 1931 law. The Court of Appeals upheld that was not within the AG's authority.
“Since prosecutors weren’t state officers then, they couldn’t be in that lawsuit, and if they couldn’t be in the Court of Claims lawsuit, then the judge's order that you can’t prosecute cases under the 1931 law, didn’t apply to prosecutors either,” McDaniel said.
Becker says this has never been about prosecuting a specific case for him.
“I think through this whole thing, the biggest thing that drives me is following the law. We have the laws. We have procedures. We have to follow the law, and the law is what the law is,” Becker said.
Becker says prosecutors determining which laws they do and do not enforce is a slippery slope.
"The legislature creates the laws. We should have a level of consistency across the state with the laws that are passed, and not have 83 different versions of what a certain prosecutor is going to pick and choose, on what to enforce on any law. Because if you say you're not going to enforce it on abortion, everything is fair game after that," Becker said.
Becker added that the Grand Rapids Police Department has received and is taking reports regarding an abortion clinic downtown. That is, however, only the first step towards any type of charge being brought forth.
“There is a lot of reports being filed. I know GRPD has been taking reports, because of the clinic downtown. We’ve talked with them. We’ve talked with them, and they’ve said yeah, we’ll take reports. But we’re not going to dispatch a car or a patrol officer down there. But we’ll take a report,” Becker said.
Following reports, comes an investigation, which Becker points out can take months.
FOX 17 reached out to GRPD's communications staff inquiring about the number of reports GRPD has received in regards to abortions after Mr. Becker's statement Tuesday.
Communications staff stated that the number of reports filed could only be produced via a Freedom of Information Act Request, which FOX 17 has filed as of the time of this article's publication. FOIA requests can take up to 10 business days to be produced.
What comes next remains uncertain, though a petition to secure abortion rights in the state received a record number of signatures.
