A judge in Michigan has temporarily blocked the enforcement of a 91-year-old statute that would have banned abortions in the state at any stage of pregnancy.
On 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 makes no exception for rape or incest.
Cunningham’s ruling came hours after a separate appellate court ruled that a previous injunction only applied to state officials, and that county prosecutors could enforce the ban at their discretion, 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.
The ruling on Monday will likely be appealed by anti-abortion county prosecutors who want to enforce the 1931 statute. For the time being, however, abortion providers in the state will not be punished for performing the procedure.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) praised the 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 order will remain in place while the case is being litigated. Cunningham scheduled a hearing on Wednesday to continue consideration of the case.
The ruling from Cunningham came several months after Whitmer sued to have the Michigan Supreme Court hear the case in an expedited manner. 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 from the federal Supreme Court that would upend 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.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy