With state-wide unemployment rates soaring, the threat of Canadian garbage spilling – quite literally – into our hands, and gas prices higher than the administrative cabinet of the Cheech and Chong fanclub, it seems that the last thing Michigan citizens deserve right now is a massive distraction from the issues that really matter. Nevertheless, leaders in both the House and Senate have chosen to overlook these critical facts and instead pay focus to an issue of complete irrelevance: late-term abortion.

Bill 776 was introduced by Republican Senator Cameron Brown and driven by anti-choice organizations. SB776 has already been passed by the Senate in a margin of 24-13, and has been prolonged and deadlocked for several weeks in the Democrat-controlled House. Just yesterday, the bill passed in a House vote of 74-32. The Senate, unlike the House, is dominated by the Republicans.

Perhaps those Michigan Senators who cast their voices in support of this measure have forgotten that late-term abortions are already banned on a federal level; meaning, of course, that any legislative decision made on the state level is really nothing more than obnoxious reinforcement. You might say that the legislators who voted for and sponsored Bill 776 are, in this instance, accomplishing nothing more productive than sticking their tongues out at the state of Michigan. Since such abortions are already illegal throughout the US, the action taken by Michigan leaders in Lansing has mounted to little more than political pandering towards ultra-conservative and religious groups.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, himself a pro-lifer, made a promise to his caucus that the issue of abortion would never be brought before Michigan legislators during his term in office. At the time of this promise, it seems that Dillon felt – and rightly so – the state of Michigan was facing more pressing matters than partisan wedge issues like abortion. But now that Bill 776 is resonating loudly in front of the entire legislative body, Dillon has effectively broken his word to Michiganders all over the mitten and proven to be an untrustworthy representative of our great state. By diverting focus from more relevant concerns, such as health care and job growth, Dillon and other leaders in both the House and Senate have regrettably led the citizens of Michigan through a drastic tumble down the rabbit hole, and lowered the level of civil, political discourse from a plain of competent governing to Pee Wee's Playhouse.

It is indisputable that Michigan's social and economic climates are in a condition of dual dire straits. Currently, Michigan holds the highest unemployment rate of all 50 states, and has found itself in the midst of an economic slump unlike any that has been witnessed in decades. Shouldn't our elected officials be working in support of the people of Michigan, rather than wasting time on pointless pieces of legislation? It's time for Michigan to pull itself back to its feet, and bail out of the rabbit hole; those who are diverting attention from this unarguable fact are simply working against the betterment of Michigan and its people.