Michigan Republicans Seek To Declare Abortion As Homicide

In Michigan, where voters in 2022 approved enshrining the right to an abortion into the state constitution, legislation that would classify elective abortions as homicide has been introduced.

Last week, Michigan state Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) introduced House Bills 4670 and 4671 to create the “justice for babies in the womb act”. The bill aims to adjust all definitions in assault, assault and battery, and homicide cases to apply to “an unborn child in the same manner as they would if the victim were an individual who had been born alive”.

The proposed legislation, which was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, seeks to extend legal personhood to fetuses and fertilized embryos and would allow for women who receive abortions to be charged with homicide. 

The bills would be unlikely to pass through Michigan’s Democratic-led Senate which has approved several measures to implement the constitutional right to reproductive health care, including abortions. However, the legislation has been applauded by anti-abortion advocates, including former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson whose story is the premise of the 2019 movie “Unplanned”.

"Another equal protection bill has been introduced in Michigan by @JoshuaSchriver and needs your support!,” Johnson posted on “X”. “It’s time to make our voices heard!!! Abortion is murder! I am proud to support Michigan house bills 4670/4671.”

The bills outline that the unintentional death of a fetus or fertilized embryo would not be subject to the outlined criminal penalties if it were the result of “a life‐saving procedure to save the life of the mother if accompanied by reasonable steps to save the life of the unborn child.”

The Foundation to Abolish Abortion applauded the bills’ introduction in a news release this week with the president of the foundation, Bradley Pierce calling the bills’ “righteous legislation”.

“House Bill 4671 is the first legislation in Michigan state history that would establish equal protection of the laws for preborn children,” Pierce said. “This bill would simply make murdering anyone illegal for everyone, in recognition that preborn babies are image-bearers of God and are just as worthy of legal protection as people who have already been born.

Since 57% of Michigan voters approved the constitutional amendment to add the right to reproductive health care including abortions to the state constitution, there have been unconstitutional efforts to subvert that decision, Chief External Affairs Officer at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan Ashlea Phenicie said in a statement Wednesday.

 “In 2022, Michiganders voted in record numbers to permanently enshrine reproductive freedom into our state constitution… Bills like HB4671 are just empty political grandstanding pushed by anti-abortion extremists who are out-of-step with Michiganders’ values,” Phenicie said. “While it’s unlikely to pass into law, it proves yet again how committed they are to defying the will of voters to control our bodies, lives, and futures.”

Several other states, including Georgia, Indiana, North Dakota and Texas have introduced bills in the same vein.

A request for comment was made by Michigan Advance to Schriver, but has yet to be returned. 

The bills are just the latest attempt by Schriver at rolling back constitutional protections. Earlier this year, he proposed a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, an effort that ended ignominiously when state Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), the first openly gay member of the Michigan Senate, crashed Schriver’s press conference and ended up holding an impromptu session with reporters when Schriver stormed out.

This article first appeared at Michigan Advance, a nonprofit news source.