Group Says MI Abortion Rights Ballot Has 'Serious Errors' And Should Be Disqaulified

MICHIGAN — A group asked state officials to reject a ballot proposal that would guarantee a woman's right to an abortion under the state's constitution because it's filled with "43 serious errors."

The Citizens to Support Women and Children coalition said numerous passages in the measure do not have spaces between words, "resulting in strings of gibberish that would become a permanent part of our state constitution if adopted by voters."

"The text of the amendment is filled with run-on words that are incomprehensible, making an already confusing amendment impossible to understand," Citizens Supporting Michigan Women and Children Spokesperson Christen Pollo said. "Amending the constitution is serious business, and these people didn’t take it seriously enough even to proofread their own language."

The group identified language in the ballot, such as DECISIONSABOUTALLMATTERSRELATINGTOPREGNANCY, INCLUDINGBUTNOTLIMITEDTOPRENATALCARE and POSTPARTUMCARE as passages nearly impossible for voters to understand.

The group also said that the form election officials approved earlier this year (without the errors) was not the same form abortion rights activists circulated to voters, and is now in front of the Bureau of Elections. The group said some errors in the text centered on when an abortion clinic could authorize late-term abortions and perhaps even authorize infanticide.

The Board of State Canvassers is set to decide Aug. 31 whether the Reproductive Freedom for All measure will be on November's ballot.

"This amendment cannot be made part of our constitution in its current form," Pollo said. "And there is no legal or constitutional process for changing the text of the amendment at this late stage. It is shocking, indeed, that more than three-quarters of a million voters -- including the Governor and the state Attorney General -- signed a petition they didn’t read and couldn’t understand. But this error-riddled mess cannot be put on the ballot."

The Reproductive Freedom for All ballot coalition remained confident in proposal's signatures.

"We are confident that we're in compliance with all legal requirements for ballot proposals," said Darci McConnell, a spokeswoman for the group. "In fact, hundreds of thousands of Michiganders have spoken: More than 730,000 registered voters - a record number - have read, understood, and signed the petition in support of reproductive freedom for all."

The American Civil Liberties, Planned Parenthood of Michigan and Michigan Voices made up the Reproductive Freedom for All coalition and turned in a record breaking 753,759 signatures from every county in the state, far exceeding the 425,059 it needed to appear on the ballot.

If passed, the measure would amend the Michigan constitution to guarantee the right to make decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including birth control, abortion, prenatal care and childbirth. It would then go into effect 45 days later or sometime in December.

A state law from 1931 banning abortion in nearly every circumstance was trigged when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmarked Roe v. Wade case in late June. The law was temporarily blocked by a state judge until a Michigan court nullified the injunction, essentially putting the state's abortion ban into effect.

However, moments after that ruling, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer filed a restraining order blocking local prosecutors from enforcing the law and punishing doctors for performing abortions. The motion was granted by Oakland County Judge Jacob J. Cunningham who said "the restraining order was necessary to prevent the immediate and irreparable injury that will occur if defendants are allowed to prosecute abortion providers under (the 1931 law) without a full resolution of the merits of the pending cases challenging the statute."

Abortion in Michigan remains legal with the retraining order still in place. But even if the restraining get's lifted or nullified by another judge, numerous county prosecutors, including Karen McDonald and Kym Worthy said they won't enforce the law.

As these legal proceedings around the law's clarity plays out, Whitmer called on the state's Supreme Court a third time to determine if the state's constitution protects the right to an abortion.