Advancing Abortion Access in Michigan

In 2022, Michigan has the ability to solidify abortion access, securing its place as a safe harbor for abortion care in the region.

NIRH is working with two partners, the Michigan Organization for Adolescent Health (MOASH) and Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network (MUUSJN)—longstanding leaders on reproductive health, rights, and justice in Michigan—to promote a piece of proactive legislation, the Reproductive Health Act, and a reproductive freedom ballot initiative proposal to secure access to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion, in Michigan. 

The Michigan Reproductive Health Act protects all individual decision-making in the area of reproductive health. This includes decisions about reproductive health care, like:

• Deciding to use or refuse contraception (birth control) or sterilization.
• Deciding what type of birth control to use, if any.
• If pregnant, deciding to give birth or have an abortion.

The bill also repeals and updates Michigan’s outdated and unconstitutional laws restricting access to abortion so that it is treated like all health care, with regulations that reflect current medical standards. The Reproductive Health Act:

• Removes medically inappropriate regulations requiring facilities that provide abortions to be licensed as freestanding surgical outpatient facilities.
• Increases privacy and safety for minors seeking an abortion by removing the parental consent requirement.
• Removes barriers to state and federal funding for health care entities that also provide abortion.
• Repeals laws that require patients seeking abortion to receive biased, medically inaccurate information.
• Lifts restriction on abortion that force patients to undergo a state-mandated 24 hour waiting period, ensuring they can get the care they need without undue delay.
• Codifies current standards of medical practice on who can perform abortions.
• Prohibits criminal punishment of pregnant people for actions they take during pregnancy that would not otherwise be made criminal or punishable.
• Lifts the ban on private insurance coverage for abortion.
• Removes unnecessary barriers to accessing abortion via telemedicine.

NIRH is working with MOASH and MUUSJN to organize and engage young people and people of faith to ensure that these communities—whose voices are often erased or misconstrued in these conversations —are leading efforts to safeguard reproductive freedom, including abortion access.

With NIRH’s support, MOASH and MUUSJN will launch efforts that include awareness and advocacy actions among youth, faith-based community members, and other stakeholders in order to pass the RHA and ballot initiative proposal.