Michigan Archbishop Allen Vigneron sent a letter last week warning Catholic voters about a state ballot measure that would “allow unregulated abortion on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy.”
The letter from the Detroit archbishop went to hundreds of thousands of Catholic households in the archdiocese, explaining the devastating ramifications if Proposal 3 passes, The Detroit Catholic reports.
Vigneron said the state constitutional amendment would create a kind of “super right” to kill unborn babies in Michigan, allowing “unregulated abortion on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy.”
“The implications of this proposal are vast and extreme,” the archbishop wrote. “Due to its broad and vague language, Proposal 3 would invalidate dozens of existing laws related to abortion” and allow taxpayer-funded, sex-selection and partial-birth abortions, according to the report.
Proposal 3 also would allow anyone, including people without medical training, to assist with an abortion, according to the Citizens to Support Michigan Women and Children, a pro-life coalition working to defeat the amendment. And while Michigan law requires parents to consent for a 12-year-old to have their tonsils removed, the amendment would make it so parents do not need to consent or even be informed if their 12-year-old daughter has an abortion, receives transgender drugs or surgery.
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Vigneron warned Catholics that the amendment would create a dangerous environment in Michigan where unborn babies can be aborted “anywhere, at any time, by any person, for any reason.”
The Catholic leader urged voters to affirm the value of every human life when they vote Nov. 8.
“By voting No on Proposal 3, we build a foundation for a culture in which every human life is valued, and women and families readily receive the support they need to thrive,” Vigneron wrote. “Together, our collective prayer and action — and our votes — can help ensure the defeat of this proposal, upholding the right to life and the inherent dignity of all people.”
Polls show opposition to the amendment is growing as more people learn just how extreme Proposal 3 is. Many groups, including the Citizens to Support Michigan Women and Children, have been running ads, canvassing door-to-door and more to inform voters. Thousands also have been participating in a 54-day prayer campaign leading up to the election.
Doctors and lawyers have been urging people to oppose the amendment, too.
“Proposal 3 seeks to enshrine the idea that the state is more important than the family,” Dr. Patrick Lappert, a board-certified surgeon, said in a recent interview, according to the Detroit Catholic. “The amendment asserts that the state somehow has more wisdom than the family that knows, and has loved, this child for all their life. That’s a terrible idea. It’s a terrible idea that must be rejected.”
Here’s more from the report:
In a statement, the Catholic Lawyers Society of Metro Detroit said it joined Vigneron’s opposition to Proposal 3, warning the proposal goes far further than supporters want to publicly admit.
“Those supporting Proposal 3 claim that it just returns Michigan to the days of Roe v. Wade, but as lawyers we see that it goes much further than that — it creates a new, vague, and potentially limitless set of ‘reproductive rights,’” the statement said. “And unlike laws passed by the state legislature, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to undo or amend Proposal 3 if it becomes part of the Michigan Constitution.”
Meanwhile, pro-lifers working to defeat the amendment have been targets of violence. In September, an elderly pro-life woman was shot by an angry abortion supporter while campaigning against the amendment in Lake Odessa; she survived. The man is facing several charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon and careless discharge of a firearm causing injury.
Several churches and pregnancy centers also have been vandalized with pro-abortion graffiti in recent months.
Michigan is a major abortion battleground state. Pro-life Republicans control the state legislature, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer repeatedly has vetoed life-saving legislation. In July, she even vetoed $21.4 million in funding to support pregnant and parenting mothers who choose life for their babies.
Michigan has a pre-Roe v. Wade law that protects unborn babies by banning abortions, but a judge recently blocked the law at the request of pro-abortion groups.
Nearly 30,000 unborn babies are aborted in Michigan every year.
