A Michigan judge ruled Friday that prosecutors cannot enforce a 1931 state law that restricts abortion in all cases except where the life of the mother is threatened, Politico reports.
“The harm to the body of women and people capable of pregnancy in not issuing the injunction could not be more real, clear, present and dangerous to the court,” Oakland County Judge Jacob Cunningham said during the ruling.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer filed a lawsuit in April that asked the state Supreme Court to rule that abortion is constitutionally protected in the state. Whitmer’s lawsuit sought to supersede the 1931 law which would go into effect following the then-impending Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade which intended to return abortion laws back to the states. (RELATED: Indiana Becomes First State To Approve Near-Total Abortion Ban Post Dobbs)
“If Roe is overturned, abortion could become illegal in Michigan in nearly any circumstance—including in cases of rape and incest— and deprive Michigan women of the ability to make critical health care decisions for themselves,” Whitmer said in a statement at the time.
Judge Cunningham is in court and we are off pic.twitter.com/OqT6XBCRJR
— Grant Hermes (@GrantHermes) August 18, 2022
“The judge ignored all of the clear legal errors and problems in this case, it appears to me, simply because the issue is abortion,” David Kallman, an attorney representing two Republican county prosecutors, told The Associated Press following the ruling.
Kallman said an appeal of the ruling is planned.