Title
Resolution to Support the Rights of Women to Access Abortion and Reproductive Health Services
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Whereas, Access to abortion and other reproductive health services have been protected since the United States Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973; and
Whereas, In 1990 Ann Arbor voters amended the City Charter and declared the City to be a “Zone of Reproductive Freedom”,
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor City Council support the rights and protections provided by Roe v. Wade and other relevant state and federal laws;
Whereas, These rights are under assault from a potential ruling of the United States Supreme Court in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case; and
Whereas, If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Act 328 a 1931 Michigan law that makes it a felony to perform an abortion would go into effect;
Whereas, A recently filed lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims, Planned Parenthood of Michigan v. Attorney General of the State of the Michigan, argues that the 1931 Michigan law violates the Michigan Constitution;
Whereas, Governor Whitmer also filled a legal challenge to strike down Michigan’s 1931 law and asked the Michigan Supreme Court to bypass the lower courts and decide the case without delay;
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor has a strong interest in supporting these challenges;
Whereas, Protecting and increasing access to reproductive health care, including health care services, contraception and abortion allows women and families to be healthier, but also reduces health disparities, rates of infectious disease, and increases economic and educational opportunities;
Whereas, Approximately 13% of maternal deaths worldwide are attributable to unsafe abortions and, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the abortion rate in countries that prohibit abortion is 37 out 1,000 people demonstrating that abortion will continue whether legal or not, and access to safe abortion services is at stake if Roe v. Wade is overturned;
Whereas, Legal abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed today, according to the Centers for Disease Control;
Whereas, In the United States nearly one in three women will end a pregnancy in her lifetime and six out of 10 women who have abortions are already mothers; and
Whereas, Ann Arbor City Council recognizes this issue is not one that impacts just cisgender women, but also transgender and gender non-conforming individuals and we support reproductive justice inclusive for everybody who needs it without discrimination;
RESOLVED, Ann Arbor City Council hereby reaffirms its support for women and individuals to access abortion and other reproductive rights services; and
RESOLVED, Ann Arbor City Council directs the City Administrator and City Attorney’s Office to take appropriate legal action, including but not limited to, filing amicus briefs in Planned Parenthood of Michigan v. Attorney General of the State of Michigan and Governor Whitmer’s legal challenge of Act 328.
Sponsored by Councilmember Briggs, Mayor Taylor and Councilmembers Eyer, Grand, Disch, Radina, and Griswold