LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the last bill of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) into law Monday.
The signing reversed the state’s requirement to buy separate riders in order to obtain abortion insurance, according to the Michigan Executive Office of the Governor. The ban, which was passed ten years ago, had been criticized as “rape insurance.”
“Ten years ago today, I was in the Michigan Senate, fighting against an unconscionable anti-choice bill that would have forced Michiganders to pay extra for insurance every month just in case they were raped or had an unwanted pregnancy,” says Governor Whitmer. “I shared my own story as a survivor of sexual assault and noted that any decision about a woman’s body ought to be hers alone. Exactly ten years later, I am proud to be repealing that same bill as governor.”
This comes more than one year after Michigan voters approved Proposal 3.
Last month, the governor signed legislation preserving abortion access in Michigan while eliminating a 1931 law that would have handed down punishments to caregivers who offered medicated abortions.
The RHA also strikes out the state’s TRAP laws, which officials say were passed to close down abortion clinics.
House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) released the following statement:
“For decades, politicians bent on eliminating access to safe, legal abortion have enacted a range of laws to further that ambition — from banning the nonexistent practice of partial-birth abortion to requiring people to buy a separate insurance rider to obtain coverage for abortion services.
“HB 4949, in addition to codifying the rights granted by Proposal 3 into state law, repeals these and other outdated, harmful laws to secure for Michiganders the reproductive freedom they overwhelmingly voted to grant themselves.”
Right to Life of Michigan issued this statement in response to Monday's signing:
"Under the guise of expanding abortion access, the Governor has just mandated that all Michigan taxpayers pay for other peoples’ abortions through insurance purchased on the state exchanges. 'Today was all about forcing Michigan taxpayers, already experiencing financial strain from inflation, to fund the Governor’s singular policy focus - abortion', said Genevieve Marnon, Legislative Director.
"Do not be fooled. This bill has nothing to do with access to abortion for women who have been subjected to sexual abuse. Women in Michigan have full access to abortion up until birth for any reason whatsoever."
“I am proud that in just over 18 months, we have gone from the repeal of Roe v. Wade to expanding reproductive freedom in Michigan with the passage of Proposal 3 and the Reproductive Health Act,” adds Whitmer. “Let’s keep protecting every Michigander’s fundamental freedom to make their own decision about their own body.”
READ MORE: Governor Whitmer repeals 1931 abortion law with Reproductive Health Act signing
