On Thursday, the Michigan State House approved a bill that will permanently prohibit doctors from prescribing abortions via the internet or phone — otherwise known as ”telemedicine.” Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, is likely to sign it. However, backlash from Democrats, who wanted the ban lifted because it supposedly limits access to abortion for women in rural areas, shows a real lack of concern for women’s health, a narrative that has been gaining steam the last year.
This telemedicine ban should not have been controversial at all. In fact, it was merely an effort to essentially extend part of a 2012 law that was about to expire. That law required women to go to a doctor’s office to receive an abortifacient. Since abortion is medically induced, it is a procedure that requires guidelines for safety. This bill is also in keeping with the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on telemedicine. The bill passed in the state Senate two weeks ago, and 19 other states have similar bans.
Still, Democrats in the Michigan legislature opposed the bill. The Detroit News reported state Rep. Christine Greig, a Democrat, said, “There is no medical or scientific reason to ban prescription-induced abortion. Let’s not allow government to enter the doctor’s office, but honor limited government that doesn’t control my vagina. When will we finally trust women?” In an opinion piece in the Detroit Free Press, an OBGYN wrote that the GOP-controlled state legislature should have listened to her testimony:
This argument is one of the most ludicrous I have heard. Had this OBGYN presented this to a committee, I would have had a hard time believing this anecdote on its face.
It’s somewhat of a normal or acceptable line of argument for Democrats to argue for abortion because it’s legal and, after all, women should be able to say, “My body, my choice.” But in the last year, progressives have started to argue abortion should not just be just a choice but also convenient. Not only that, but it should be the government’s job to make abortion convenient, even at the potential risk of the mother’s health. Abortion, to progressives, is so sacrosanct that they will continue to press for it beyond what is necessary or ethical, even if it has the potential to endanger the mother.
I’m glad the Michigan legislature stood firm on this important bill. It not only helps keep women safe, but it highlights the lengths to which liberals are willing to go to ensure abortion is anything but a woman’s last resort.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
