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Two states moved in opposite directions on abortion rights on Wednesday. On the same day, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a repeal of Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban and Gov. Brad Little signed Idaho’s new “abortion trafficking” ban, which effectively places limits on interstate travel by minors. Both moves came the day after Wisconsin voters went to the polls and elected Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court after a campaign focusing on that state’s 1849 abortion ban. A challenge to that ban will be heard in a county circuit court in May, and is expected to eventually go to the state Supreme Court, where Protasiewicz’s election shifts the balance of power from conservatives to liberals.
“Who would like to see me slay a zombie?” Whitmer said at the bill signing, describing the law—which, like Wisconsin’s abortion ban, remained on the books after the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, only to resurface nearly five decades later after the court overturned Roe—as a “threat coming back to haunt us all.” Michigan voters had passed a constitutional amendment affirming reproductive rights in November’s elections, but repealing the 1931 law was an additional step to safeguard those rights for the future. And it was a step made possible only by the fact that, at the same time they voted on the abortion measure, voters also elected Democratic majorities in the Michigan House and Senate and reelected Whitmer.
It’s a very different story in Idaho, where the Republicans in control of the state government are getting ever more extreme.
RELATED STORY: Liberals take charge of Wisconsin Supreme Court for first time in 15 years with Protasiewicz victory
