Michigan Governor (“Planned Parenthood Makes America Great”) Whitmer Refuses to Shut Down “Life-Sustaining” Abortion Industry During Pandemic

The Governor of Michigan is ignoring safety recommendations, putting her own people at risk, to keep abortion clinics in business during the Coronavirus pandemic.

While other Governors across the country are issuing orders to cease unnecessary medical procedures – including elective abortions – during the Coronavirus pandemic, Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer is paradoxically defending abortion, calling it “life-sustaining” and necessary.

Whitmer made the claim while appearing on a podcast. Host David Axelrod (President Obama’s former chief strategist) asked the governor for her reaction to other states banning abortion during this global health crisis. Whitmer responded that while Michigan had suspended some procedures, but banning abortion would be “ridiculous.”

The governor stated:

“We stopped elective surgeries here in Michigan,” Ms. Whitmer responded. “Some people have tried to say that that type of a procedure is considered the same and that’s ridiculous,” she added, referring to abortion.

“A woman’s health care, her whole future, her ability to decide if and when she starts a family is not an election, it is a fundamental to her life," she added. “It is life-sustaining, and it’s something that government should not be getting in the middle of.”

Life sustaining? Abortion takes a life. This is doublespeak in the worst way. What is life-sustaining about an elective procedure that by definition takes the life of at least one participant – usually the one who didn’t choose to participate.

While other governors are listening to the experts to developing well-reasoned responses to the virus, Governor Whitmer has instituted some of the most extreme, partisan, and at times draconian restrictions. For example, she already had to walk back part of her executive order that apparently BANNED all homeschooling in the state – you know what EVERY student is doing right now because schools are closed.

In another example Whitmer has reportedly taken action to limit activities like gardening:

Whitmer’s restrictions during the coronavirus crisis are among the strictest of all state executive orders, and Michiganders have protested in large numbers in recent days. Whitmer issued executive order 2020-42, which went into effect April 9, and requires larger stores to block off certain areas of their sales floors as a way of limiting the number of people in those stores. Those sections include lawn and garden. Essentially the order limits the purchase of gardening supplies, seeds, tools and other necessary items for people to grow their own food at home, critics say.

But amid all her restrictions, the Democrat governor allowed an exemption for a favorite ally of hers: the abortion industry.

It’s hard to fathom, but probably shouldn’t be surprising. You’ve heard us say before that the radical Left worships at the altar of abortion, and Governor Whitmer clearly counts herself a member of that evil congregation.

If her devotion to Planned Parenthood wasn’t already clear, a tweet recently resurfaced of the governor wearing a pink hat that read: “Planned Parenthood Makes America Great.”

Planned Parenthood killed more than 345,000 defenseless babies last year alone, breaking its own record. That’s barbaric and sad.

We’ve told you how many other states like Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma,  Maryland and many others have issued responsible orders halting non-essential medical procedures to focus on combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. Countless lives could be saved by conserving precious medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for doctors and nurses.

But despite these governors choosing to listen to the experts and following precautions to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus and equip our first-responders with the equipment they need to treat those who are sick and dying, Governor Whitmer has declared that one elective procedure – abortion – will not stop in her state.

Unfortunately, Michigan isn’t the only state where Planned Parenthood and the radical Left are carving our special exceptions from these lifesaving orders just to maintain the abortion industry’s grip on our country. The ACLJ is taking direct action to support pro-life mandates.

We just told you how we have filed emergency amicus briefs in federal courts in Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas to defend these states as they implement important, common-sense steps for all of our protection. And we’ve just filed an eighth emergency amicus brief, our second in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, this time defending Tennessee’s restriction on all elective abortions during this pandemic. And our legal team is preparing to file more. We will not let the abortion lobby manipulate the justice system, putting Americans at risk, to expand abortion.

We’ve already helped secure victories for life in these cases in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

And now we are preparing to file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in states where Planned Parenthood has been given a special exemption from these pandemic safety requirements. The first was just submitted in Illinois. Our second will be sent to Michigan to find out why Governor Whitmer is recklessly giving Planned Parenthood a free pass to use up critical medical supplies to abort innocent babies while healthcare workers are fighting to save lives from this virus.

There is nothing “life-saving” about abortion. For a governor to expend so much energy defending abortionists instead of protecting the people of her own state is unconscionable, if not evil. Governor Whitmer allowing abortions to continue will likely only add to the suffering.

UPDATE 04.30.2020: We have just submitted a state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Michigan Attorney General to obtain records concerning Governor Whitmer’s dangerous Planned Parenthood abortion exemptions during this pandemic.