When courts dodge and delay abortion questions, pregnant people pay the price

Opposing protesters outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, are kept separated by fencing as U.S. Capitol Police and Supreme Court Police observe. The demonstrators held signs and chanted as the justices heard oral arguments over access to mifepristone, one of two pharmaceuticals used in medication abortion. | Ashley Murray/States Newsroom

All eyes were on the U.S. Supreme Court recently as it issued opinions that blatantly dodged urgent questions about abortion access nationwide. At the same time, a Michigan court lifted restrictions, expanding access in our state. This isn’t the first time Michigan has found itself an oasis of reason in the position of expanding access — all while anti-abortion forces wreak devastation, havoc, and confusion on other parts of the country.

On June 25, the Michigan Court of Claims granted a preliminary injunction to block Michigan’s 24-hour mandatory delay and other harmful restrictions on abortion care. A second case, filed on June 27, challenges Michigan’s ban on Medicaid coverage for abortion care. 

The unnecessary restrictions these two lawsuits challenge have been on Michigan law books since 1999 and 1987, respectively. But today, they stand in clear violation of Proposal 3, the Reproductive Freedom for All ballot initiative that voters overwhelmingly passed in 2022.

After Michiganders came out in record numbers to pass Prop 3 and elect a pro-reproductive freedom majority for the first time in 38 years, our elected officials got to work. The Legislature listened to the will of the people, removing Michigan’s outdated 1931 abortion ban from the books within the first 100 days and passing the Reproductive Health Act to implement Prop 3. With the addition of these lawsuits, the fruits of our collective labor and the promises of Proposal 3 are finally coming to life.

We’re hopeful that when the Michigan Court of Claims issues its final decisions in these two cases, these dangerous restrictions will be permanently repealed and Michigan law will finally be brought into line with our state constitution.

This is what democracy looks like. In Michigan, 63% of voters want abortion to be legal in all or most cases, according to a CBS/YouGov poll. If we follow the will of the people, we get greater access. Period.

Michigan stands in stark contrast to many other parts of the country where, frustrated by voters who continue to show up in support of reproductive freedom nationwide, anti-abortion activists are blatantly weaponizing our courts to subvert the will of the people. This is why we have anti-abortion justices on the U.S. Supreme Court — three of which were hand-picked by Donald Trump — who issued rulings last month that continue to kick the can down the road on abortion access.

Under their recent decisions, the abortion medication mifepristone remains FDA-approved and available — for now. The Supreme Court only ruled on standing, sending the case back down to a lower court for a do-over, meaning that case will likely end up right back at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also knocked the case about access to emergency abortion care back down to a lower court, purposefully avoiding the question at hand: can states pass extreme abortion bans that require doctors to let pregnant patients die in their care, under the threat of jail time?

When a patient’s life is at risk, should a doctor provide lifesaving care? The answer is obvious. Everyone deserves emergency care that protects their life and health — and that is what health care providers should be focused on. Instead, providers are being forced to weigh their obligation to their patients against the risk of going to prison for simply doing their jobs — and this isn’t fair to anyone. When a patient is facing a life-threatening emergency, they deserve the full attention and care of the doctor tasked with saving their life. 

The fact that the anti-abortion Supreme Court refused to answer this most basic human question speaks volumes about their moral character — and their blatant political priorities.

Looking ahead to the coming months and years, the Supreme Court’s inaction this summer could cost pregnant people their lives, destroy their ability to carry future pregnancies, and leave those who survive life-threatening emergencies with debilitating lifelong conditions. And none of this is hypothetical or hyperbole — there are already many horror stories of pregnant people being forced to wait in hospital parking lots until they’re at the brink of death, yet this bleak reality wasn’t a good enough reason for the Supreme Court to act.

As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in her fiery dissent, “Today’s decision is not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho. It is a delay.” 

And when courts dodge and delay abortion questions, pregnant people pay the price.

Make no mistake: The anti-abortion Supreme Court justices had no intention of providing clarity. They saw the backlash after the Dobbs decision; after all, that’s what helped catalyze Michiganders to permanently enshrine the right to reproductive freedom into our state constitution. 

The anti-abortion justices and their backers know that if the court had taken away access to mifepristone and allowed states to deny emergency abortion care last month, the candidacies of anti-abortion politicians nationwide would have gone down in flames this November. They also know that if they want to retire and make sure they’re replaced by new anti-abortion justices, they need Trump back in the White House.

Their decision to kick the can down the road was a strategic one.

It’s all part of anti-abortion activists’ cruel and calculating plan to stop people from getting abortions by any means necessary. This is the future they want to impose on every single state — including Michigan. And despite our hard-fought wins here the last two years, we could lose all of our progress if anti-abortion candidates succeed in clinching Congress and the presidency and enacting a national abortion ban.

We know that all eyes will be on Michigan this November. And what voters decide will impact whether the national storm finally engulfs Michigan, too, and alter the trajectory of the entire nation.

The post When courts dodge and delay abortion questions, pregnant people pay the price appeared first on Michigan Advance.