Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

In a Win for Reproductive Justice, Michigan Voters Reject Abortion Ban

Michigan’s Proposal 3 restores some of Roe’s protections in a mass repudiation of the undemocratic Supreme Court. This is a win for abortion rights, but the movement for reproductive justice must demand more than what Michigan had under Roe.

Facebook Twitter Share
Image: Anna Van Schaap

Michigan’s Proposal 3, the ballot initiative for the Right to Reproductive Freedom, passed by 54.5% to 45.5%, with 60% reporting, invalidating the state’s 1931 trigger-ban. This — combined with similar victories in Kentucky, Vermont, and California — shows, yet again, that the majority of voters support abortion rights, even in highly contested swing states and red states. It is a repudiation of right wing attacks on abortion as well as the Supreme Court’s undemocratic decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. According to an ABC News exit poll, abortion was the number one issue on the minds of Michigan voters by a long shot, surpassing even inflation. 

Following on the heels of the overwhelming referendum in favor of abortion rights in Kansas, this is an important win for the reproductive rights movement, even if only at the state level. Proposal 3 campaigning efforts promised to restore Roe in Michigan, and voters responded with clear, overwhelming support.

However, simply restoring Roe is not good enough. Under Roe, Michigan’s clinics were severely overburdened and restricted in their ability to provide care. Right-wing laws, including parental consent requirements, mandatory waiting periods, and bans on accepting insurance for the majority of abortions, have restricted access and disproportionately affected the working class and oppressed.

Additionally, targeted restrictions on abortion providers, also known as TRAP laws, greatly reduce the amount of clinics and staff available to provide abortions in the state. Anti-abortion politicians push these TRAP laws under the guise of improving reproductive health, when they are meant to impose costly and medically unnecessary requirements so severe that clinics are forced to reduce services or close down entirely. In Michigan, clinics are forced to abide by structural standards comparable to surgical centers. Clinics must also be within 30 minutes of a hospital and have a transfer agreement with that hospital, even though abortion is known to be one of the most low-risk procedures available. 

The victory in Michigan, like similar victories in other states, shows that there are millions of people who want to fight to defend reproductive health care. These wins are a rejection of the ultra-reactionary right wing agenda that seeks to limit our bodily autonomy. However, we should be clear that the right to free, safe abortions on demand in the United States will not be won simply by scaling up ballot proposals like Proposal 3 to other states. After Proposal 3, new laws will continue to restrict abortion rights, and new challenges from the right wing may emerge to continue to chip away at access. And as we have seen from the Democratic Party, they have demonstrated an inability to fight against these restrictive laws and regulations, with their responses ranging from occasional opposition to active support.

As the popularity of gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon shows, the far right’s agenda is anything but defeated in Michigan. Right-wing political ads against Proposal 3 focused on disturbingly false and transphobic claims that it would allow forced sterilization and gender reassignment for minors. The right wing sees its attacks on abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights as connected. The movement for abortion rights must also see the struggle being connected to the struggle for gender-affirming care and LGBTQ+ rights. 

In fact, Michigan’s right wing has proposed some horrifying laws restricting LGBTQ+ rights and will likely mobilize for more. In October, Republicans introduced HB 6454, which, if passed, would make life-saving, gender affirming care illegal for anyone under 18, treated as first-degree child abuse. This follows an attempt by the Michigan Senate in 2021 to exclude trans youth from school athletics based on sex assigned at birth. After that attempt was unsuccessful, Republicans switched strategies, attempting to slip the language into the budget for 2022-2023, which ultimately failed.

As socialists, we demand more. Proposal 3 does not guarantee true reproductive freedom. For that, we need abortions to be free for all who need them — on demand, with no waiting periods, no consent required from anyone except the person who needs an abortion — and guaranteed for all at the federal level, not decided in a patchwork fashion by individual states. The only way to win these rights is through a mass movement in the streets, in schools, and in workplaces, centered on a strategy for federal protections, and in coalition against right wing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights. 

Proposal 3 restores Roe — but we need to fight for more than Roe

Facebook Twitter Share

Gender & Sexuality

Women’s Liberation in Revolutionary Russia

The historian Wendy Z. Goldman gave this talk in Madrid and Barcelona on September 12 and 15, presenting her book Women, the State, and Revolution.

Wendy Z. Goldman

October 1, 2023

Berlin Has a New Pride Demonstration That Cops Hate

Pride should be a protest, not a party. The Internationalist Queer Pride in Berlin takes up the tradition of the Stonewall Riots. Cops hate it — and that's a good thing

Nathaniel Flakin

July 30, 2023
People marching at New York's Queer Liberation March in June. The banner reads "left and labor for trans rights"

Trans Liberation and Socialist Revolution — A Debate with the IMT

Trotskyists should aim to be in the front lines of all struggles against oppression. This is a debate with Alan Woods's International Marxist Tendency (IMT) on how socialists should relate to the movement for queer and trans liberation.

Sasha Frost

July 29, 2023

The Communist Women’s International, in English for the First Time

An Interview with historians Daria Dyakovona and Mike Taber about their new book with documents from the Communist Women’s International

MOST RECENT

The New Hollywood McCarthyism Emerging Around Palestine

Over the past week, a new Hollywood McCarthyism has emerged: multiple people in Hollywood have jobs and representation over their support of Palestine. We must denounce and fight these attacks which weaken the movement and scare supporters into silence.

Sybil Davis

December 3, 2023
A UAW sign is held next to a "Free Palestine" sign

The UAW Has Called for a Ceasefire. It’s Time for All of Labor to Stand Up.

The UAW International union has joined calls for a ceasefire and is exploring how to divest from Israel. This is a step which should inspire union activists to take up the fight to bring their union into the fight against Israel's attack on Gaza and the struggle against imperialism.

Rose Lemlich

December 2, 2023

Robert Habeck Wrote a Play Praising a Right-Wing Mass Murderer

Germany's Green vice chancellor strikes many as an idealist who has been struggling with the tough realities of government. Yet before he was a national politician, he wrote a play that opens a window into a dark soul.

Nathaniel Flakin

December 1, 2023

The World Kissinger Built Must Die Too

Henry Kissinger died at 100 years old. But his legacy remains in the brutal world system he built and the future generations of imperialist ghouls he inspired. They all must go.

Samuel Karlin

November 30, 2023