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Here’s a timeline of action on Michigan’s abortion ban as Whitmer requests another injunction 

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Here’s a timeline of action on Michigan’s abortion ban as Whitmer requests another injunction 

Aug 11, 2022 | 1:11 pm ET
By Allison R. Donahue
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Here’s a timeline of action on Michigan’s abortion ban as Whitmer requests another injunction 
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gives her third State of the State address, Jan. 27, 2021 | Whitmer office photo

In another attempt to make the state’s 1931 abortion ban unenforceable, at least temporarily, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer filed a motion Wednesday for a preliminary injunction with the Oakland County Circuit Court against enforcement of the ban. 

Whitmer said the injunction “must remain in place until the courts can fully resolve the constitutionality of abortion in Michigan.”

This comes after an already eventful few weeks of judicial action around the abortion ban law in a number of courts around the state. The law is in the spotlight after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, with GOP lawmakers and anti-abortion groups arguing it should now be in place.

Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban, which prohibits doctors from performing any abortions except to save the life of the “pregnant woman,” has been blocked since May when Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher issued an injunction while a Planned Parenthood lawsuit was in litigation.

But early this month, a ruling from the state Court of Appeals gave county prosecutors power to enforce Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban, exempting them from the injunction put in place by Gleicher.

Whitmer responded to that attempt last week by asking the Oakland County Circuit Court for a temporary restraining order on the law, which Judge Jacob Cunningham granted and ruled on Wednesday to keep in place. 

“Recent legal fire drills and a rapidly shifting legal patchwork prove that the current status of safe, legal abortion in Michigan is unsustainable,” Whitmer said.