Abortion rights will be on Michigan’s November ballot, court rules

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) -Michigan’s top court ruled on Thursday that voters should get to decide whether to amend their state constitution to protect abortion rights, handing a win to advocates who petitioned to put the measure on the November ballot.

Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion-rights advocacy group, amassed more than 730,000 signatures in support of putting a state constitutional amendment affirming the right to abortion on the general election ballot.

The group appealed to the Democratic-leaning state Supreme Court last week after the state canvassing board deadlocked over whether to allow the issue to go before voters. The two Republicans on the canvassing board voted against putting the amendment on the ballot, while the two Democrats supported it.

Anti-abortion groups objected to the ballot measure largely on technical grounds, saying the language of the petition contained multiple errors.

Michigan abortion rights advocates began a campaign to put the issue on the 2022 ballot months before the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June that overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that granted nationwide constitutional protection for abortions.

(Reporting by Gabriella BorterEditing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot)