LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – With less than 50 days until Election Day, Democrats and a leading reproductive rights group are making abortion access a central part of their campaign push this fall, pointing to the 2022 vote that made reproductive freedom part of Michigan’s constitution.
Reproductive Freedom for All Michigan and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, held a press call Tuesday to lay out that strategy. The call came a day after the Detroit News reported on private comments from John James’ running mate, Jay DeBoyer, about a possible path to a 12-week abortion ban, comments the James campaign did not dispute making.
Shanay Watson-Whitaker, director of Michigan campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All, said the group’s focus is on turning out its members for Democratic Gov. candidate Jocelyn Benson and running mate Brinks.
“We have more than 150,000 members here in Michigan fighting to elect Jocelyn Benson and Winnie Brinks, alongside Democratic candidates down the ballot,” Watson-Whitaker said.
Brinks pointed back to 2022, when Michigan voters added the right to reproductive freedom to the state constitution by a wide margin, as the foundation of the party’s pitch to voters this cycle.
“In 2022, Michiganders voted to enshrine access to reproductive freedom as a constitutional right by an overwhelming 13-point margin,” Brinks said.
Brinks framed reproductive rights as connected to broader economic concerns for families, not just abortion access on its own, saying decisions about having children affect careers, health care costs and a family’s overall financial stability.
Reproductive Freedom for All has formally endorsed the Benson-Brinks ticket and says it plans to spend the next several weeks knocking on doors, phone banking and text banking across the state. The group is also watching a separate ballot question this fall, a proposed constitutional convention, which Brinks and Watson-Whitaker said they’re concerned could become another avenue to roll back rights voters already approved.
Both said they expect reproductive rights to remain a central campaign issue through November.
