LANSING, Michigan, October 13, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The governor of Michigan this week signed into law a statewide ban on the gruesome procedure known as partial-birth abortion.
Local pro-life leaders celebrated as Governor Rick Snyder signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban on Oct. 11, the fruit of a lengthy battle in the state. The law, which was passed in landslide votes in the state legislature last month, will take effect Jan 1.
“Partial Birth Abortion shall be no more in the great state of Michigan,” said Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing in a statement.
“More than 15 years ago the reality of this horrific abortion procedure fist came into the public light. Since that time, prolife citizens have partnered with elected officials to ban partial birth abortions in Michigan. We are celebrating this achievement, not for ourselves, but for our state as a whole.
“The final step to this journey, Gov. Snyder’s signature, restores a sense of sanity and restores more respect for human life.”
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Partial-birth abortion, which was nationally banned in a 2003 law signed by President George W. Bush and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007, involves delivering a baby in the breech position up to the neck, puncturing the base of the neck with scissors, and evacuating the contents of the skull.
President Obama, who was not a U.S. senator at the time, has said that he would have joined 33 senators who voted against the ban.
The first Michigan law to ban partial birth abortion was enacted in 1996, signed by Governor John Engler, but eventually overturned by the federal courts. Two other versions were later enacted, one in 2004 via a statewide petition drive, after Governor Jennifer Granholm vetoed the same language that had been passed by the legislature in 2003.
It was January 15, 2004, when Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing kicked off “The People’s Override,” a citizen initiative to bypass the Governor’s veto and enact the Legal Birth Definition Act to ban partial birth abortions in Michigan. RLM volunteers across the state collected 460,034 signatures in just three months.
“Michigan joins dozens of other states in declaring that there is no right, constitutional or otherwise, to kill a child inches from complete birth,” said Listing.