Senate Bill 776 (2008)

Summary

This bill, if passed, would penalize any doctor or individual that participates in a partial birth abortion that kills a baby. CTV supports this bill.

Links

Senate Committee Meeting Minutes and Testimony Transcripts
Bill Text
Fiscal Analysis
Why CTV Supports SB 776
Partial-Birth Abortion Information from MI Right To Life

Updates

May 27
The House voted 73-32 to pass the bill. It now goes to Governor Granholm, who can either sign it into law or veto it. Contact Governor Granholm today and ask her to sign Senate Bill 776 into law.

May 20-21
The House is expected to vote on this bill on May 20 or 21. Please contact your State Representative and urge them to VOTE YES on SB 776.

January 22
The Senate voted to pass the bill. The bill now moves to the House for debate and voting, where it is expected to pass. (Senate roll-call)

January 16
The Senate Health Policy Committee voted five to one to pass the bill into the full Senate. If passed, this bill would penalize any doctor or individual that participates in a partial birth abortion that kills a baby. They would face imprisonment and a fine of up to $50,000.

The hearing was well attended with grassroots activists, conservative organization leaders, legislative staff and legislators. There was almost unanimous support of the legislation, except from those representing Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and the Michigan National Organization for Women (NOW), who strongly opposed the legislation. CTV board member William Wagner, a tenured professor at Cooley Law School, also testified to the constitutionality of the legislation.

Those in support of the ban made the point that this form of abortion has never been proven as necessary to save the life of the mother. Those in opposition to the ban were frustrated that this legislation was one more thing that hampered women’s freedom. They believed that because it was banned at the national level, such legislation penalizing the physicians in Michigan was not necessary and that the cost this ban would incur would be detrimental to the state’s economy.

January 7
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand lower court rulings that Michigan's Legal Birth Definition Act, outlawing partial birth abortion, was unconstitutional. In refusing to hear the case, the LBDA has no future prospect of being enforceable.

In reaction to the Court's action, prolife legislators in the Michigan Senate spared no haste in scheduling action on a bill (SB 776) that would directly parallel the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban, which was upheld in the Gonzales v. Carhart ruling last April.

This is an historic opportunity to place in the law books and the history books that the people of Michigan repeatedly and emphatically have taken every step necessary to stop this heinous crime against humanity known as partial birth abortion.

Written Argument Supporting SB 776

Why does our state need to ban partial-birth abortion if there is already a federal law banning partial-birth abortion?

A state law insures that prohibitions on partial-birth abortion can be enforced and abortionists who illegally perform partial-birth abortions can and will be prosecuted.

A federal law is enforced by federal district attorneys who might not be inclined to take the time to prosecute an abortionist performing partial-birth abortions. Federal prosecutors are often more focused on other issues such as drug trafficking, tax fraud, etc. Federal district attorneys are also appointed by the President of the United States and if America elects a pro-abortion president in 2008, it is possible they could be instructed not to enforce the federal partial-birth abortion ban.

A state ban on partial-birth abortion would give Michigan's attorney general and each of the county prosecutors the authority to prosecute an abortionist guilty of breaking the state ban. This would allow many more potential law enforcement resources to be used to prosecute abortionists who violate the law.

While debating the state law prohibiting partial-birth abortion, state legislators will have the option of broadening or increasing the penalties for committing this crime.

A state law insures partial-birth abortion will be illegal in Michigan if the federal partial-birth abortion ban ever gets legally challenged on the grounds that the federal government doesn't have the authority under the Commerce Clause to ban certain abortion procedures. It is unlikely that pro-abortion groups would bring forth this kind of challenge (they didn't in the most recent case) because such an argument could endanger federal pro-abortion legislation.