Washington, DC – Today, MLive spotlighted Reproductive Freedom For All’s effort to enshrine abortion rights in the Michigan constitution. The Fairness Project-supported campaign to proactively protect reproductive rights and abortion access is the first of many such campaigns where this battle will unfold over the coming months and years. 

Following the leaked draft majority opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case — which would eliminate the constitutional right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade —  Reproductive Freedom for All recruited more than 10,000 new volunteers in the 72 hours following the news leak. The coalition has until July 11th to collect more than 425,000 signatures in order to qualify the proposal for the November ballot.

“At a time when the Supreme Court could put people’s health at risk by restricting access to abortion, and Congress has not moved to codify Roe into law, it is essential that people can use democratic tools like ballot measures to preserve the right to safe and legal access to abortion within their state,” said Hannah Ledford, Deputy Executive Director of the Fairness Project. 

Fairness Project gets involved in ballot measures where there is an extreme disconnect between what voters want and what is happening in their state legislatures. A clear example of that is the issue of reproductive freedom, where there is a robust consensus in favor of defending abortion rights. A Washington Post-ABC poll found that 75% of Americans believe decisions on abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor, including 95% of Democrats, 81% of independents and 53% of Republicans. A Gallup poll also found that 80% of the American public think abortion should be legal.

10,000 flock to help Michigan abortion-rights petition drive after Supreme Court leak. Read it in MLive HERE

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