Monday, February 04, 2013

Michigan abortion advocate doesn't know her history

Michigan abortion advocate Angi Becker Stevens and RH Reality Check contributor has no clue what she is talking about.
It was a democratic former Governor, James Blanchard, who signed our parental notification requirement into law. And years later, yet another Democrat, Jennifer Granholm, signed off on the "informed consent" legislation mandating 24-hour waiting periods and requiring that any woman in need of an abortion be given state-produced materials detailing the current developmental stage of the embryo or fetus she is carrying. We are a state, in other words, where the dividing line between "pro-choice" and "anti-choice" is often not so clear, and where that divide certainly does not fall neatly along partisan lines.
James Blanchard didn't sign Michigan's parental consent (not notification) law. It was a piece of citizen-initiated legislation which passed in the Michigan Senate and Michigan House after over 300,000 signatures were collected. In Michigan, citizen-initiated legislation can become law without the governor's signature. The parental consent legislation law was citizen-initiated legislation because Blanchard had vetoed a previous attempt to pass parental consent legislation.

Jennifer Graholm didn't sign Michigan's informed consent law. Michigan's informed consent law requiring a 24-hour waiting period passed in 1993, about a decade before Granholm took office, and it was signed by Governor Engler. Court challenges prevented the law from taking full effect until 1999.

Granholm did sign rather uncontroversial legislation which requires abortionists to offer women the option of viewing their ultrasound. The legislation passed the Michigan Senate by a vote 36-0. 

During her time in office, Granholm was no friend of the prolife movement as she vetoed legislation to ban partial-birth abortion.  Her campaigns were always supported by a who's who of abortion advocates.   

Did Becker Stevens just assume because Michigan's parental consent law passed during Blanchard tenure that he signed it?  How could Becker Stevens confuse an add-on bill with the original bill which passed a decade earlier?  Did she not do any research at all? 

I really think the pro-choice movement's focus on story-telling them prevents them from obtaining and retaining knowledge. 

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