Michigan board to consider abortion rights ballot initiative

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An election board in Michigan is scheduled to decide Wednesday whether a ballot initiative that seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution should go before voters in November, although the board's verdict isn't expected to be the last word on the issue.

The proposed constitutional amendment aims to negate a 91-year-old state law that would ban abortion in all instances except to save the life of the mother.

Michigan's 1931 law — which abortion opponents had hoped would be triggered by a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade in June — remains blocked after months of court battles. A state judge ruled Aug. 19 that Republican county prosecutors couldn’t enforce the ban, saying it was “in the public’s best interest to let the people of the great state of Michigan decide this matter at the ballot box."

Both sides have indicated they will file challenges with the state's Democrat-leaning Supreme Court if the decision goes against them.

The Bureau of Elections verified last Thursday that the ballot initiative petition contained enough valid signatures for the amendment to qualify for the ballot and recommended that the state Board of Canvassers approve the measure. The board does not always follow the bureau’s recommendations.

Abortion rights have become a powerful motivator for voters since Roe was overturned. In conservative Kansas, voters overwhelmingly defeated a ballot measure to ban the procedure, and the issue has swayed votes in special elections for Congress, including in a battleground district in upstate New York. Nationally, Democrats have seen an increase in fundraising since the Supreme Court decision.

Having abortion rights on the ballot in November would almost certainly be a boon for...