Dems Reject ‘Abortion Coercion’ Bills that Fail to Protect All Women
- Sep 29, 2015
- 2 min read
Bills only protect women who make choices Republican lawmakers agree with
LANSING – Overriding the objections of women lawmakers, a group of Republican men voted to approve a misleading set of “abortion coercion” laws out of the House Criminal Justice Committee today. The bills claim to protect women by making it illegal to coerce a woman into having an abortion, but the male Republican lawmakers rejected amendments that would have expanded that protection to women who are coerced into becoming or staying pregnant – a problem that is far more prevalent among abused women than pressure to have an abortion, according to domestic violence experts.
“Republicans could not have made it any more clear that these bills are about advancing their anti-abortion agenda rather than protecting women when they rejected our common-sense amendments,” Democratic Vice Chairwoman Rep. Vanessa Guerra (D-Saginaw) said. “Once again, we saw that Republican men are all too eager to pass laws restricting women’s reproductive health over the objections of women. It’s a disgrace that our amendments were rejected and that such biased bills were voted out of committee and referred to the floor of the House.”
Guerra, along with Democratic committee members Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright (D-Muskegon) and Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), introduced amendments to House Bills 4787 and 4830 that would have made it a crime to coerce a woman to make a reproductive choice or remain pregnant against her will, and to set penalties for those who do. However, those amendments were rejected without any question, comment or debate. The Democratic women voted against the bills because they failed to protect women from all forms of reproductive coercion.
“The bills voted out of our committee were misleading and lopsided and only offered protection to women who don’t want to have an abortion,” Rep. Hovey-Wright said. “Women who became pregnant against their will were offered no help. There is no way we could have supported a bill that determined that only some women are worthy of protecting.”
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, about a quarter of all women being physically or sexually abused by their partners are coerced into becoming and staying pregnant1. The coercion often involves manipulation, intimidation, threats and violence. Abusers view this kind of coercion as a means of exerting power and control over a woman. During committee testimony last week, domestic violence experts said that far more women are coerced into getting and staying pregnant than are coerced into having an abortion.
“If Republicans want us to believe that they are helping abused women, then they need to protect all women – whether they approve of their personal decisions or not,” Rep. Chang said. “Instead, they approve bills that are anti-abortion instead of pro-women. Women are smart enough to know the difference. All women in abusive situations deserve protection.”
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