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Dear Editor,

Important things to know about Proposal 3:

The Proposal language is very confusing and extreme. Passage would put Michigan right up there with some of the most extreme abortion policies in the world – think North Korea.

By introducing a mental health exception late-term abortions for practically any reason would be legal. The law saying only doctors can perform abortions would be repealed so even a dentist could approve and perform a late-term abortion. Birth day abortions would be legal.

The definition of fetal viability would be changed. Any newborn with a significant illness or disability could be defined as non-viable and could be denied medical care and again this determination would not require a medical doctor.

The “individual” referred to in the wording is not defined by age and would allow any woman at any age, even teenagers to get an abortion without their parents knowing.

The amendment makes consent the only legal limit and is not limited to adults. If someone convinces a child to have an abortion, be sterilized or take puberty-blocking medication parents to have no say.

The authors of this proposal may or may not have intended to call into question laws against statutory rape or incest, but what matters is the confusing text of the amendment.

50 years of laws would be wiped out. An untrained employee at an abortion facility could perform an abortion and health and safety regulators would be powerless to address it.

The ban on taxpayer funding of abortions would be repealed along with the law requiring an abortion clinic to pass health and safety inspections.

Pro-life doctors and nurses would be forced by law to perform abortions.

Adoption of this proposal is not simply a new law it is adding an amendment to the state constitution—one that is not easily changed in the future when the ramifications are known.

This is truly a life-and-death vote!

Cindy Duran

St. Joseph