Michigan Pro-Life Group’s Lawsuit Against Radical Abortion Amendment Dismissed

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Right to Life of Michigan challenging the state’s expansive and radical abortion amendment, which allows abortions up to birth.

The appeals court ruled the pro-life plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the challenge to Article 1, Section 28 of the Michigan Constitution — the provision voters added through Proposal 3 in 2022. That radical measure enshrines a broad “right to reproductive freedom” and has blocked enforcement of Michigan’s longstanding 1931 abortion ban.

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Right to Life of Michigan, along with other pro-life organizations, physicians and Republican lawmakers, filed the federal lawsuit in November 2023. The suit argued that Proposal 3 overreached and threatened important parental rights, particularly the ability of parents to be involved in a minor child’s decision to obtain an abortion.

A federal district court previously dismissed the case for lack of standing, prompting an appeal by a subset of the plaintiffs.

The Sixth Circuit ruled strictly on procedural grounds, finding that the plaintiffs failed to allege sufficient facts to establish legal standing.

The court did not reach the underlying merits of the challenge to Proposal 3 or its impact on Michigan’s parental consent law.

Right to Life of Michigan President Amber Roseboom issued the following statement on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ dismissal of the lawsuit:

“While the decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is disappointing, it is based entirely on what is known as ‘standing,’ without addressing the merits or specifics of the actual challenge. Our narrow appeal sought to challenge the overreach of Proposal 3 and the threat it poses to parental rights related to a minor child’s decision to seek an abortion. Parental consent for abortion remains in Michigan law and is supported by the large majority of Michigan voters. The radical left is hell-bent on creating a wedge between parents and their children when it comes to abortion, gender identity and sex education, and will use anything, including Proposal 3, to do so.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, praised the ruling and pro-abortion Gov. Gretchen Whitmer welcomed the decision.

The dismissal leaves Proposal 3 fully intact. Pro-life advocates maintain the amendment endangers longstanding protections for parental authority and goes far beyond what many voters understood when they approved it in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.