LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – On the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Michigan Democrats approached the issue of abortion rights from different angles.
What do traditional Democrats say?
On one side, you have traditional Democrats like Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and U.S. Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (MI-03) towing Whitmer’s “fight like hell” party line when it comes to unrestricted abortion rights. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in June 2022, it returned abortion regulations to individual states.
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“They [MAGA Majority in the House of Representatives] have tried to take away abortion access from our troops, protect misinformation centers masquerading as health clinics, and push for a national abortion ban time and time again,” Rep. Scholten said at a press conference on Monday.
Lt. Gov. Gilchrist added, “We are so fortunate to have a strong partner in the White House that fights for abortion rights and is fully aligned with the Whitmer-Gilchrist Administration on protecting access to reproductive care.”
Who are “Democrats for Life?”
Talking points like this are not surprising in the Democratic party. What is unique is a rather new Michigan faction called “Democrats for Life.” The group, an offshoot of the national Democrats for Life, has been influencing Michigan politics since 2018.
“Our mission is to defend Universal Human Rights within the Democratic Party and to elect Whole Life Democrats,” Bob Synk told Michigan News Source. “We seek to end the influence of systems of pervasive injustice, particularly the mass lethal injustice of abortion, and other human rights abuses, and to build a life-affirming culture within our Party.”
That may seem like a tall order in Michigan currently. Since voters approved Proposal 2 in November 2022, abortion up until the moment of birth has been enshrined in the Michigan constitution.
“We can focus on areas where we agree,” Synk said. “Even though Gov. Whitmer is outspokenly pro-choice, we have common ground with her on clean energy, the climate crisis, a healthy economy, the death penalty, [and] concern for the poor.”
On what issues do “Democrats for Life” agree with Whitmer?
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Synk continued by saying Democrats for Life also agree with Gov. Whitmer on points like the need for paid parental leave, high‑quality and affordable child care, and excellent healthcare for everyone.” He stressed this is the group’s “pro-life for the whole life” mission.
While Gov. Whitmer has touted “she will work with anyone,” that hasn’t been the case with most in her party. “The difficulty is that [traditional Democrats] don’t want to work with us,” Synk said. “They seem to have the attitude that they would rather see Republicans elected than pro-life Democrats. We believe the party and the country would be better off if we were, as we once were, welcomed as equals in the party.”
Meanwhile, Whitmer hit the talk show circuit over the weekend, saying it would be good if President Biden talked about abortion more and promoted the falsehood that Republicans want to enact a “national abortion ban.”
