A Michigan judge temporarily blocked the enforcement a 91-year-old statute which would have prohibited abortions in the state at any stage during pregnancy.
Monday: Oakland County Judge Jacob Cunningham issued a temporary restraining order on the 1931 law, which bans the procedure at every stage of pregnancy unless a pregnant person’s life is in danger. The statute does not make any exceptions for incest and rape.
Cunningham’s ruling came hours after a separate appellate court ruled that a previous injunction only applied to state officialsThe county prosecutors could apply the ban at will, starting immediately. Cunningham’s order now keeps the state’s abortion protections intact while the case is being decided. Enforcement of the law, whether by state or county officials, “poses a threat of immediate and irreparable injury to the people of the State of Michigan,” the judge said.
Anti-abortion county attorneys who want to enforce the 1931 statute will likely appeal Monday’s ruling. However, for the moment, the state won’t punish abortion providers who perform the procedure.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D) praised this ruling.
“I am grateful for this relief — however temporary — because it will help ensure that Michigan’s doctors, nurses, and health care systems can continue caring for their patients,” she said in a statement.
State Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) also celebrated Cunningham’s temporary order.
“The legal fight in Michigan continues,” Nessel said, “and this temporary restraining order ensures prosecutors cannot target women or providers in the short term.”
The restraining orders will remain in effect while the case is being tried. Cunningham scheduled Wednesday’s hearing to continue with the case’s review.
Cunningham’s ruling came several months later Whitmer filed suit to have the case heard by the Michigan Supreme Court in an expedited fashion. Actions like this are rare, however, and since Whitmer submitted the case to the state’s High Court, the justices haven’t acted upon it.
Anticipating a future ruling of the federal Supreme Court which would upend the abortion rights recognized in Roe v. Wade — a ruling that justices recently handed down — Whitmer said in her lawsuit at the time that the 1931 state law, which is still on the books, is “unconstitutionally vague.” The law also violates rights to “privacy, liberty, bodily integrity, and equal protection” under the state constitution and other statutes, she said.
“If the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to protect the constitutional right to an abortion, the Michigan Supreme Court should step in,” Whitmer said at the time.
