Michigan has voted to add an amendment to its state constitution by a margin of more than 10 points that will allow abortion up to 24 weeks, according to multiple outlets.
With 84% of votes counted, Fox 2 Detroit has Prop 3 passing with a 55.5% to 44.5% margin. The New York Times, with 85% of votes reported, has Prop 3 passing by the same margin.
Prop 3 would amend the Michigan state constitution to ensure that abortion is a constitutionally protected procedure. The measure only allows the state to regulate abortion after the unborn child reaches viability, at about 24 weeks gestation. Under Prop 3, the state is also not allowed to penalize doctors who perform abortions. (RELATED: Republican J. D. Vance Wins Senate Bid In Ohio)
“The new section would provide that every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, which would include at least prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care,” a ballot proposal by the Michigan legislature reads.
Prop 3 in Michigan is a radical protection of the right to kill babies in the womb through all 9 months of pregnancy. An 84-year-old woman was shot by a pro-choicer for speaking out against it. And it looks like it’s going to pass. Wicked.
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) November 9, 2022
The amendment invalidates a 1931 abortion ban, which prohibits all abortions except in the case that the life of the mother is threatened. A Michigan state court blocked the law in September, after it went back into effect following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The abortion issue was front and center during an October debate between Michigan gubernatorial candidates Gretchen Whitmer and Tudor Dixon. Whitmer accused Dixon of forcing women to carry to term a baby conceived in rape, while Dixon criticized Prop 3 for being too radical and allowing abortion “up until the moment of birth.”
Whitmer has sought to pitch abortion as an issue consistently top of mind for voters, claiming that saving abortion goes hand-in-hand with saving the economy.
“If we want women to come back into the workplace in Michigan, we better not take away their right to be full citizens and make decisions about their own health care. That’s what’s at risk here,” Whitmer told Politico.