It comes a year after the state voted to enshrine abortion in the constitution.
November 8, 2023, 3:50 PM Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on May 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Md. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, FILEMichigan lawmakers have passed a series of 9 bills repealing certain abortion restrictions, which are now headed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's desk.
The package, called the Reproductive Health Act, aims to help increase access to abortion that may have remained unavailable or inaccessible in some parts of the state.
It comes a year after Michiganders voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposal 3 (Prop 3), which enshrined abortion rights in the state's constitution.
The new bills, which passed the state House last week and the state Senate Tuesday, repealed a law requiring the patient to receive information on abortion provided by the state, such as depiction of a fetus, and allowing residents to sue if their right to an abortion is infringed under Prop 3.
The legislation also requires private insurance companies to provide coverage for all pregnancy-related health care, including abortion, through an optional rider and removed some regulations for clinics that provide abortion that could cause them to close if they are not met.
However, due to pushback from some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, two provisions of the RHA did not pass. The first was overturning the requirement that patients wait 24 hours between seeking an abortion and receiving the procedure and the second was removing a ban on Medicaid coverage for abortion care.
The ACLU of Michigan said in a press release that not eliminating these barriers would make it difficult for marginalized groups including Black and brown people, working class residents and rural residents to access abortion.
In a statement to WPBN-TV, Whitmer praised the passage of the RHA as progress and in line with what residents voted for last November.
"Michiganders spoke loud and clear in the last election when they voted overwhelmingly to protect the constitutional freedom for people to make their own decisions about their bodies," Whitmer said in a statement. "For years, Michigan has had politically motivated and medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion on the books."