LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – One of the cornerstones of Michigan Democratic Governor Whitmer’s reelection campaign in 2022 was to “fight like Hell” for reproductive freedoms for Michigan women including the right to have an abortion.

This occurred subsequent to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling which reversed the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. It also appears to have led to 57% of voters in the state approving Proposal 3, which enshrined abortion rights into the state Constitution and helped Michigan Democrats gain total control of the state government for the first time in decades.

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Even though reproductive freedom and abortion rights are not on the Michigan ballot this time around, Gov. Whitmer says that abortion rights will be “front and center” again in the November election.

Gov. Whitmer making the rounds to promote reproductive freedom and abortion.

Gov. Whitmer said this to Michigan Advance over the phone in January when talking about the presidential election saying, “We know that we have a president (Biden) who has pledged to do everything to restore a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body and her health care versus one (Trump) who is the reason that the Supreme Court was in a position to overturn Roe and is the reason that one out of three women in this country cannot make their own decisions about their body and their health care and has vowed to sign a national abortion ban.”

Gov. Whitmer told the media outlet, “We’re hitting a number of places to engage, to raise voices. We learned during the (2022) campaign when we amended our constitution that it’s personal stories that are so powerful and that’s why we’re using all of our tools to continue to make sure that this is front and center for women and our families and voters who thought maybe this was finally secured. It’s still very much I think in jeopardy and very important to stay engaged.”

National abortion ban, abortion pill case, IVF ruling and Florida court ruling on the minds of Democrats.

What is of concern to the Democrats right now in addition to worrying about a nationwide abortion ban are two things: access to the abortion pill, mifepristone, which will be decided by the Supreme Court, and the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos should be considered children. Because of that, some IVF clinics in Alabama and elsewhere have paused their services and Democrats are concerned about the far-ranging impacts of the ruling, including Michigan’s governor.

When the ruling came down, Gov. Whitmer sent out a press release saying the ruling will cause families to lose access to IVF saying, “Every American deserves the ability to make their own decisions about their own body and start a family when they are ready. However, last Friday’s ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, the recent lawsuit by Right to Life Michigan (to invalidate Prop. 3), and bills introduced in state legislatures across the nation put IVF, which allows millions of Americans to have children every year, at risk. That’s unacceptable. In Michigan, we will keep fighting to protect reproductive freedom and give families as many options as possible as they start or grow their families.”

With IVF thrust into the spotlight during an election year, Democrat politicians including Gov. Whitmer, who is Co-Chair of the Biden campaign, have been making the rounds in media circles talking about the issue as a way to mobilize Democrats to go to the voting booth in November.

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In addition to those issues, Democrats aim to leverage Florida’s six-week abortion ban, along with a ballot measure that has the potential to reverse it.

Democrats: a baby’s existence is a “choice.”

In addition to Gov. Whitmer saying over and over again that having an abortion is a “choice” that Michigan women should have, it also appears that she feels the same about frozen embryos used during IVF (in vitro fertilization) – that the choice of whether they are people or not or developed into babies is one that should be made by the “parent” or doctor.

During a recent appearance on CNN’s “The Source,” Gov. Whitmer was asked if she considered a frozen embryo to be a person and dodged the question by saying that it’s the parents and doctors who are the ones who should be deciding the answer to that question.

Gov. Whitmer pressed on whether a frozen embryo is a person.

CNN Host Kaitlan Collins asked Gov. Whitmer, “Well, you just mentioned the concerns about what happened in Alabama with the Supreme Court there and the IVF ruling and really what that could mean for other reproductive rights, on that ruling in Alabama, you have not said whether or not you agree that frozen embryos are considered people. What is your position on that?”

Gov. Whitmer answered, “Who cares what my position is, Kaitlan? What matters is what the parents and their doctor agree is whatever is right for them, how they define it. That’s the only one whose opinions should matter, not a judge, not a politician, not a governor from a different state. That’s what the fundamental question is here, are we going to empower Americans to make their own healthcare decisions and make decisions about how they go about starting their family and whether or not they go about starting a family? And that’s what I’m fighting for here in Michigan.”

Collins pressed Gov. Whitmer further saying, “You have been out on the forefront on this issue, though. I think people would care what you think of that.”

Gov. Whitmer who locked down Michiganders during the Covid pandemic, admits she is “not a doctor.”

Gov. Whitmer told Collins, “Yeah, but I’m not a doctor and I’m not in anyone’s individual situation. When we did this surrogacy bill yesterday, we heard from parents who went through IVF, couldn’t carry a baby to term, so had a surrogate do that, when they saw all of the laws that were changing, they were worried that they would lose the ability to make a decision about those embryos. And a couple of the parents at our event testified that they decided to have the embryos destroyed. That was their decision. They were their embryos. I don’t think that the government or any politician should get in the middle of that choice.”

Although Gov. Whitmer won’t say personally if an embryo is a person, she has been able to define what a woman is in the past as a “person with a period” as she said in a TikTok video before the elections in 2022. About five months before that, she called women “menstruating people” during a Democratic event.

It’s clear to see that “reproductive freedom” and abortion continue to be at forefront of the Democrats election campaign and Michigan is still a battleground in that endeavor.

Abortion will be a tool (again) for Democrats to win elections.

It’s been reported that during former President Trump’s visit to Grand Rapids, Michigan this week, the Biden campaign had a billboard accusing Trump of wanting a national abortion ban. Biden also said as much in an attack ad against Trump saying, “In 2016, Donald Trump ran to overturn Roe v. Wade. Now, in 2024, he’s running to pass a national ban on a woman’s right to choose.”

While at the Grand Rapids press conference, Trump told the media that he would be making a statement on abortion next week.