An anit-abortion group may not see their initiative go before the state legislature after more than an estimated 7,000 signatures on their petition were found to be invalid. | Pixabay
An anit-abortion group may not see their initiative go before the state legislature after more than an estimated 7,000 signatures on their petition were found to be invalid. | Pixabay
A petition that would put veto-proof legislation regarding second-trimester abortions before the state legislature failed to receive enough signatures according to the state elections bureau.
The Michigan Values Life committee submitted 380,000 signatures in December, 40,000 more than needed. Upon evaluation, the elections bureau found that only about 333,000 signatures are valid. An evaluated 500-signature sample had duplicates and signatures of those who weren't validly registered to vote. The elections bureau recommended that the Board of State Canvassers deny certification of the petition according to WILX.
The organizer of the initiated bill is Right to Life of Michigan. The group wants to ban dilation and evacuation, a procedure it refers to as dismemberment.
Through this procedure, the fetus is removed in pieces with a surgical instrument, WILX reported. The process was used about 2,000 times and accounted for 7.6% of abortions in the state last year. The procedure was performed in more than half of all second-trimester abortions and in 84% of abortions performed after the 16th week of pregnancy.
Abortion rights activists stand behind the procedure, saying it is safe and doctors should not be prosecuted for performing it.
News of the petition's failure disappointed Right to Life of Michigan's president Barbara Listing. The ballot committee hopes to persuade the board that some of the signatures challenged by an abortion rights group are indeed valid, according to WILX.
The Coalition to Protect Access to Care, a group associated with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, challenged 66 signatures in the sample of 500. Of those in question, the elections bureau had already flagged 24 as invalid and accepted 22 of the challenges, saying the remaining 20 signatures were valid, according to WILX. The bureau later partially agreed with the anti-abortion group and accepted two more signatures as valid.
Goc. Gretchen Whitmer has publicly declared that she will reject similar abortion legislation Republicans have proposed as bills, WILX reported. The state constitution allows the governor's veto to be overruled by the initiative process.
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