Michigan Votes Forum

Can't understand why the mother would be exempt from prosecution if she agreed to an abortion. It's almost like the republicans think women don't have enough brains to know when they're doing something the republicans consider wrong.

If this bill were to pass here in Michigan, I very much doubt it will sustain legal challenges, since is does not provide for the health concerns of the mother.

Senator Meekhof’s statement is as follows:
Senators, thank you for your support of Senate Bill Nos. 160 and 161. Senate Bill No. 160 makes partial-birth abortion illegal in Michigan as a state law. This bill is modeled after the federal partial-birth abortion act which was ruled to be constitutional by the United State Supreme Court. This issue is of particular importance for me. I was adopted as an infant, and my mother chose to place me up for adoption rather than have an abortion. I have been thankful for this my entire life.
I believe one of our duties as elected officials is to do everything we can to protect life. Even if you are personally pro-choice, you should be able to recognize that partial-birth abortions are particularly barbaric. I don’t know how anyone can deny that there is life in a baby that is partially delivered and then killed. Life is extremely precious. It must be defended. You should support these bills and should be confident in your pro-life stance and should support this even if you are pro-choice. Life in this particular delivered baby is a boy or a girl, and it should be illegal to kill that baby boy or baby girl.
Opponents of this bill say it is unnecessary because partial-birth abortions are already illegal at the federal level. While they are illegal, this bill is still vitally important and necessary. First of all, the FBI and United States Attorneys are in charge of enforcing federal law, and it is probably just not reasonable to think they have the resources to spend on enforcing partial-birth abortions. If we make this barbaric procedure illegal in Michigan, we will empower our locals—our police, county prosecutors, and our Attorney General—to enforce this law.
Secondly, I don’t think we should rely on Congress to keep partial birth abortions illegal. By putting this bill into Michigan law, we can certainly remain and will have the protection regardless of what Congress may do in the future.
Lastly, our current President has decided that he will not enforce certain laws with which he doesn’t agree. For example, the President announced in February that he no longer agrees with the Defense of Marriage Act. Despite the fact that this act was backed by Congress and signed by the President, he will no longer enforce this law. He could do the exact same thing with the partial-birth abortion act and that concerns me. Putting the ban in Michigan law ensures that this procedure would remain illegal regardless of what this or any President or Congress may do.
This bill is about protecting life. Because of that, there is an exception in here for the case if a pregnant woman’s life is in danger. I thank all the Senators today for sponsoring life and voting for life.

Senators Warren and Whitmer, under their constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill No. 160.
Senator Warren’s statement, in which Senator Whitmer concurred, is as follows:
Colleagues, I would just like the opportunity to stand before you and explain my “no” vote on Senate Bill No. 160. The fact that I am standing here for at least the fifth time today is probably no surprise to any of you. But as a longtime advocate for women’s rights, I wholeheartedly support our fundamental right to choose and oppose any attempt to interfere in the private medical decisions made between women and their doctors. Beyond that, however, I am standing here today because at their very core, Senate Bill No. 160 and its companion bill Senate Bill No. 161 are an answer in search of a question.
They are redundant and unnecessary bills that ban a safe and rarely used medical procedure that, in fact, has already been prohibited by federal legislation. Even more alarmingly, they offer absolutely no exception to protect a woman’s health, future fertility, and do nothing to increase our citizens’ access to birth control or comprehensive sexuality education.  I was elected to the Legislature in order to pass public policies that would put the people of Michigan before petty politics. With each bill we read and each vote we take, I believe it is our duty as elected officials to ask ourselves, “How is this legislation going to move Michigan forward?” After spending countless hours discussing and debating this issue over the course of my career, I can tell you without equivocation that this legislation simply does not pass the test, and yet today, in every one of our districts, 1 in 10 people are unemployed in this state. Here we are taking up this legislation that will not create one single job, will not fix one single crumbling road or bridge, and will not help one single family put food on their table in these tremendously difficult times.
Quite simply, we are taking a vote on two bills that do not do one thing to make Michigan a stronger or better place to live. In my opinion, the worse thing about such a purely political piece of legislation like this is that it doesn’t even have the shelf life of the headlines that are going to be written about it later today. I know my constituents expect more from me. I think you will find that yours will demand more from you. So let’s put the political posturing aside and have the courage to do the hard work that we were sent here to do.
Let’s reject this recycled attempt to appeal to a select constituency today, and tackle the issues that will truly build a greater Michigan tomorrow.

Well said Sen. Warren. This bill shines a harsh light on the hippocracy of the Republican party. This is the party of smaller government and individual freedom, yet proposes and passes bills like this one, which lets government intrude in the doctor /patient relationship.

 Well said Meekhof. Libs will always find a way to get their abortions, but at least they will have to foot the bill.

 While the Democrats want individuals to have the "fundamental" right to contraceptives, I don't see anything in the bill that says individuals have the fundamental responsibility to pay for them. Now they want screw the taxpayers too.  If we could just teach liberals to use contraceptives, there'd be fewer liberals.

Taxpayers would get off a lot cheaper, if money is your only concern, with buying contraceptives rather than paying for the expense of pre natal and post natal care, and welfare for unwanted children, along with the cost of educating them, and for some, imprisoning them latter in their lives. Conservatives seem to have a problem with simple math.

 Try google.

 gypsy seems to be a little lost in the fog of politics.  Barack Obama, as a punk Senator voted (usually voted present) for partial birth abortions.  As President he fully supports abortions and supports Margaret Sanger (google) and Geroge Bernard Shaw's ideology..  He's a baby killer from the "Get - Go" and people like "gypsy" support him but will blame a political party to skirt the real issues here.  That my friends his a true, blue liberal hypocrite at its finest!

I have it from good sources that Barack Obama is physically unable to bear children, thus has no need to make the choice whether he has an abortion or not. I also have it on good sources that he doesn't want to make that decision for someone else who may be able to bear children. That my friend is a true democrat, small d.

 I have to agree with your source. I don't think it's possible for Obama or any other male to "bear children" or have an abortion.

 The problem with liberals is they have no morals or common sense, that's why you have to support their kids, supply them with condoms and pay for their abortions.