Governor Whitmer signs the final piece of the reproductive health act

This morning, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the final piece of the reproductive health act.

The bill repeals Michigan’s ban on insurance coverage for abortion, without purchase of a separate rider, and implements protections for doctors and patients. A rider is an amendment to a health insurance policy that can add coverage depending on the situation.  It’s been ten years since the ban, which forced women to pay for so-called “rape insurance”.

December 11, 2013 Whitmer, as Minority Leader in the Michigan Senate, spoke out against the ban in a floor address where she also shared her experience as a sexual assault survivor. 

The RHA repeals politically motivated, medically unnecessary statutes that criminalized nurses and doctors, caused health care providers to close, increased patient costs, and restricted abortion access. The act builds on efforts to expand access to abortion in Michigan and repeal the state’s extreme 1931 abortion ban earlier this year.

Whitmer stated “Ten years ago today, I was in the Michigan Senate, fighting against an unconscionable anti-choice bill that would have forced Michiganders to pay extra for insurance every month just in case they were raped or had an unwanted pregnancy. I shared my own story as a survivor of sexual assault and noted that any decision about a woman’s body ought to be hers alone. Exactly ten years later, I am proud to be repealing that same bill as governor. I am proud that in just over 18 months, we have gone from the repeal of Roe Vs. Wade to expanding reproduction freedom in Michigan with the passage of Proposal 3 and the Reproductive Health Act.”