FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Contact: Jessica Tramontana, 517-974-6302, jessica@progressmichigan.org
“Right to Life” President, Lobbyist deploy offensive language repeatedly to media
LANSING – Citizen’s watchdog group Progress Michigan issued the following statement in response to RTL President Barbara Listing and RTL lobbyist Ed Rivet repeatedly comparing rape to car accidents, house floods and house fires:
“Anti-choice extremists know the public doesn’t support an abortion ban, so their only option is to defend their proposal that is meant to sidestep a gubernatorial veto with offensive and inflammatory language,” said Jessica Tramontana, Communications Director of Progress Michigan. “These extremists and religious special interests should have dropped their narrow agenda after voters rejected right-wing attacks on women last November. Politics don’t belong in the doctor’s office. It’s time for special interest lobbyists to stop the hateful attacks on women in Michigan.”
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BACKGROUND:
In June 2012, Democratic state Reps. Lisa Brown, Barb Byrum, and Rashida Tlaib were banned by the all-male Republican leadership from speaking on the House floor after speaking out against a package of bills pushed by “Right to Life” that imposed the strictest standards in the country on women’s health clinics.
The bill was passed in the lame duck session, and signed by Gov. Snyder. He also vetoed a bill package reforming Blue Cross Blue Shield because of an amendment that would have banned all health insurance plans in the state from covering any abortions.
Now “Right to Life” is working with Republican politicians to push a bill banning any health insurance coverage of abortions, and get around another veto. Through the citizens’ initiative process, anti-choice activists simply need to collect petition signatures from 3.48 percent of all registered voters in the state, and Republican lawmakers can adopt the initiative without a signature from Gov. Snyder.
For more background, see our blog on the issue.