Senators Jacobs and Whitmer, under their constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill No. 1283.
Senator Jacobs moved that the statement she made during the discussion of the bill be printed as her reasons for voting “no.”
The motion prevailed.
Senator Jacobs’ statement, in which Senator Whitmer concurred, is as follows:
I rise to explain why I will not be voting in favor of this. Despite what I think is something good that Senator Hunter did with his amendment, I still think this is another example of the Legislature trying to tell doctors how to practice medicine. If we don’t feel that is important enough that this really needs to be a decision between doctors, women, and their families; I think this is another example of the Legislature trying to overregulate small-business operators. Indeed, we have heard so many times in Finance Committee or Economic Development and Regulatory Reform Committee that doctors run small businesses, and if we don’t want to take the health view of this, then I think we should take a look at the business model as well. For those reasons, I will be voting against this bill.