State Rep. Bob Bezotte today expressed concern about a legislative proposal that would repeal health, safety, and reporting standards for abortion clinics, pay for elective abortions with taxpayer funds, eliminate informed consent requirements, and permit partial-birth abortion, an extremely unpopular late-term abortion procedure.

The House Health Policy Committee on Thursday considered House Bills 4949-4959, the so-called “Reproductive Health Act,” which removes Michigan’s medical licensing and safety requirements for surgical abortion facilities. Bezotte, R-Marion Township, noted that the dangerous, unpopular changes have nothing to do with what Michigan voters expected when Proposal 3 passed in 2022.

“Whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, we should all be able to recognize the importance of properly regulating and inspecting surgical abortion centers,” Bezotte said. “Safeguards must be in place to ensure that every woman who seeks out these services knows the potential implications and visits a facility that is safe, clean, and conducive to healing.”

Among other changes, HBs 4949-4959 would:

• Repeal the law requiring licensing and inspection for abortion clinics to ensure proper health and safety procedures are followed. In 2013, unsafe conditions in a Muskegon clinic demonstrated the importance of proper health and safety guidelines.
• Eliminate requirements for abortion providers to report the abortions they perform and any instances of a woman facing complications or death as the result of an abortion.
• End protections that ensure women have the opportunity to provide informed consent before getting an abortion, with at least 24 hours to review information in non-emergency situations.
• Repeal Michigan’s prohibition on partial-birth abortions, although federal law also prevents the gruesome late-term abortion procedure.
• Allow, and in some cases require, taxpayer funding to pay for medically unnecessary abortions.

Polling conducted by Marketing Resource Group this year showed that 90% of Michigan voters support the licensing and inspection of abortion facilities for health and safety purposes. Further, 63% of Michigan voters support a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion to allow a woman to provide informed consent. The poll also found that 67% of Michigan voters support requiring parents to consent to their minor child having an abortion; Democrats decided not to attempt to repeal Michigan’s parental consent law for now, given how unpopular the move would be.

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