Michigan National Organization for Women  Legislative Issues
Abortion coercion bills coerce women; testimony  December 6,
2011  Honorable Kenneth Kurtz, Chair House Committee on
Families, Children, and Seniors 992 Anderson House Office
Building Lansing, MI  Dear Representative Kurtz and Members of
the House Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors  The
Michigan National Organization for Women opposes HB 4798, 4799,
5134, 5181, and 5182 because the bills are biased against
abortion and women seeking abortions.  The bills set up
harassing procedures to intimidate women into not choosing an
abortion.  In short, these bills that pretend to protect women
against coercion are themselves coercive.   You are trying in
these bills to make it as difficult as possible for women to
access abortion, while doing absolutely nothing to address the
causes of unintended pregnancies.  As we testified during your
hearing on the partial-birth abortion ban, a far bigger problem
is the lack of good laws and regulations to prev