AAPLOG Sues State of Michigan Over Pro-Abortion Constitutional Amendment

On November 8, AAPLOG became one of 16 plaintiffs to file a lawsuit against the state of Michigan challenging five central elements of Proposal 3, the pro-abortion constitutional amendment that was passed last year. The plaintiffs in this suit include: 

• Right to Life Michigan 
• AAPLOG on behalf of itself, its members, and their patients; 
• Gina Johnsen, Representative, Michigan House of Representatives; 
• Luke Meerman, Representative, Michigan House of Representatives; 
• Joseph Bellino, Jr., Senator, Michigan Senate; 
• Melissa Halvorson, M.D., an AAPLOG member and board-certified OB-GYN; 
• Christian Medical and Dental Associations, on behalf of itself, its members, and their patients; 
• Crossroads Care Center, a pregnancy resource center; 
• Save the 1, pro-life advocacy organization, on behalf of itself and its members; 
• Rebecca Kiessling, pro-life activist; 
• And 6 more individual plaintiffs. 

The five objections that this suit levies against the federal constitutionality of Proposal 3 are as follows: 

1. Art. I, Sec. 28 of the Michigan state constitution (that is, Proposal 3) causes great harm to pregnant women (and others) as a class by exempting them from the legal protections afforded to other classes of individuals in violation of the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

2. Proposal 3 violates parental rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment as it deprives parents of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their minor children by excluding them from their children’s decisions regarding “reproduction.” 

3. Proposal 3 violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by overriding any objection on religious grounds to endorsing, providing, or supporting procedures involving “reproduction,” thereby infringing on the rights of conscience and religious exercise protected by the First Amendment. 

4. Proposal 3 deprives preborn babies, particularly those with disabilities, newborn babies following a failed abortion, and partially born babies of the right to life without due process of law in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

5. Proposal 3 creates an unprecedented, super-right to “reproductive freedom” that remains immune from any legislative action, thereby nullifying the legitimate authority of a coordinate branch of government (the legislative branch) in violation of the Guarantee Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees private citizens the right to a republican form of government and thus protects them from the tyranny of the majority. 

We will keep you posted on the progress of this case.