The Michigan Legislature passed a bill driven by Right to Life Wednesday that would require women to purchase an additional rider to their insurance if they want abortion coverage in their health plans.
A motion to give the bill immediate effect, which requires a two-thirds majority, failed on a 61-48 vote. That means the law will go into effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns, Kathleen Gray reports in the Free Press.
Democrats objected strenuously to the legislation, Gray writes, decrying not only the bill, but that it should be an issue decided by all Michigan voters and not just the 315,477 people – about 4% of state voters – who signed the Right to Life Petition.
The initiative would require most private and all public health insurance plans to offer a separate rider for an abortion. And a person would have to buy that rider before knowing if they needed an abortion. They would not be able to buy the rider after getting pregnant by any means, including rape or incest.
Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, in an emotional speech against the measure (video below), disclosed that she was raped 20 years ago.
Whitmer calls the measure “one of the most mysogynistic proposals I’ve ever seen in the Michigan Legislature.”
Other Democrats slammed the bill as "rape insurance."
