Michigan’s 1931 Abortion Ban Is Permanently Blocked by State Judge

  • Judge cites ‘wholesale denial’ of women’s ‘fundamental right’
  • Ruling comes in wake of US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe

Abortion rights demonstrators during a national day of protest in Lansing, Michigan, on July 4.

Photographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg
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Abortion remains legal in Michigan after a judge permanently blocked enforcement of a 91-year-old ban that could have become law following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher issued the decision Wednesday in a victory for the nonprofit group Planned Parenthood. The ban, which was opposed in a separate lawsuit by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was on hold after a temporary ruling. The state’s Republican-dominated legislature intervened to support enforcement of the statute after Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, opposed it.