Michigan Is Becoming the Ground Zero of Abortion Battles

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https://newrepublic.com/article/166525/michigan-ground-zero-abortion-battles

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https://archive.ph/W8n5O

Back in 2018, before she was the attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel was an attorney and activist with a past life in standup comedy. During her campaign, she released a low-budget advertisement called “#HangersR4clothes,” intending to make the argument for her election. It featured Nessel standing in an alley, talking about Roe v. Wade.

She said: “With the recent change in the makeup of the Supreme Court, the clock is on the verge of being turned back. Roe v. Wade is likely to be overturned soon, and laws that criminalize abortion remain on the books in Michigan. Whoever becomes our next attorney general will have the power to enforce these dangerous and unfair laws, which will drive women to the back alleys again.”

After making her case, Nessel defiantly throws a wire hanger onto a cardboard sign on the ground that reads “NEVER AGAIN” in black marker.

The political class mocked the ad as hyperbolic. And yet should Roe fall, as many expect will happen following the leaked Supreme Court opinion spelling its demise, not only will her alarm be proven nonhyperbolic, but Nessel will be one of the most consequential figures protecting millions of Michiganders from losing access to a safe and legal abortion.

Though a January poll found that nearly 80 percent of Michiganders support a woman’s right to choose, Michigan’s abortion ban is among the country’s most arcane. Under the 1931 law, abortion is felony manslaughter. The law includes no exceptions for rape or incest. And it could automatically go into effect should Roe fall. While a judge granted an injunction sought by Planned Parenthood of Michigan to stall enforcement of the decades-old law on Tuesday afternoon, the matter is far from settled.

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