LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, R-Allen, issued the following statement after the Democrat-controlled Senate passed radical legislation removing critical health safeguards and regulations regarding abortion clinics:
“For decades, abortion advocates hammered home their talking point that legalized abortion is necessary to protect women who chose this path from the clandestine dangers of the black market, back-alley abortions they would have had to seek out before Roe.
“It is appalling to see the same abortion advocates who once decried the dangers of the back-alley underground abortion economy now seek its unlimited return.
“The bills would remove licensing and inspection requirements for abortion providing facilities. No other medical or surgical providers are exempt from these oversights. Unfortunately, we may never know the full extent of these new dangers because under these same bills, abortion providers will no longer need to report anything that happens inside their closed doors. These newly unregulated facilities would no longer be expected to report abortion data to the state health department or file reports if patients suffer complications or die from a botched procedure.
“We have gone full circle from being told that Roe and Proposal 3 were necessary to protect women from the dangers of an underground abortion industry to promoting that very same clandestine abortion industry because abortion access is now protected in our state constitution. The proponents of these bills want to return the abortion industry back to those dark, secret back alleys where they told us they didn’t belong.
“When voters approved Proposal 3, they did not vote to remove licensing requirements from abortion clinics. They did not vote to repeal 24-hour waiting periods and informed consent protections. They did not approve eliminating screening protocols to determine whether a woman is being coerced into having the abortion — or is in potential danger of domestic violence. They did not vote for abortion on demand, anywhere, at any time, with none of the oversight or commonsense safety protections that exist in every other medical field in the state.
“This bill package is dangerous for the health and welfare of women across this state. It puts profits ahead of patient safety and hides this industry in the dark, immune from public oversight and transparency. It is a green light to reopen clandestine back-alley abortion clinics to prey on vulnerable women. It is wrong, and I cannot support any part of it.”