Michigan Gov. Asks Insurance Companies to Illegally Cover Abortions

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D)

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued letters to insurance companies on June 29 asking them to break state law by expanding coverage to include abortion.

Michigan's 2013 Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act prohibits insurance companies from covering abortions as a default benefit of their health insurance policies. Instead, individuals who wanted abortion coverage needed select that option as an additional "benefit" to their health insurance. Michiganders passed the law after the Affordable Care Act forced taxpayers to fund abortion through state exchanges.

The Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act was never repealed, and no judge has issued an injunction against the law. By asking companies to expand their default plans to cover abortion, Whitmer is asking them to violate state law.

Right to Life Michigan President Barbara Listing responded,

“Governor Whitmer is treading on dangerous water by assuming that Judge Bleacher’s temporary injunction on our Michigan 1931 abortion law eliminates all pre-existing laws regulating abortion—it doesn’t. Regardless of Governor Whitmer’s inappropriate request to insurance companies, the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out law is still in place and violators of the law can be fined up to $10,000.

This plea to insurance companies encouraging them to break the law reveals Governor Whitmer’s plan to expand abortion until it’s unlimited and unregulated in Michigan."