A state House committee has approved a sweeping new set of restrictions and requirements on abortion providers and women who want to end their pregnancies.
The action by the House Health Policy Committee brought an angry Rachel Foster Lifson to her feet as the retired college professor from Mount Pleasant demanded -- over the din of the crowd – the right to speak.
“My body! My decision!" she shouted. "Thank you. "
The new requirements cover clinic inspections, disposing of fetal remains and restricting when a woman may terminate a pregnancy.
Abortion rights advocates – like Renee Chelian of Northland Family Planning Centers -- say the bills’ backers one motive.
“They only want to ban abortion and make illegal and unaccessable
(sic) in the state of Michigan,” she says.
The measures are backed by the Catholic Church and the anti-abortion group Right to Life. They say the goal is to make it safer for women who go to clinics that offer abortions.