Samuel Case, FISM News
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In her fight to sanction abortion in the state of Michigan, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has not only pushed for expanded abortion access but has also struck down budgetary items that would assist women who desire to choose life. Through a series of budgetary vetoes, Whitmer has taken punitive action against maternity homes and adoption tax credits according to a report from The Federalist.
“The budget items she struck went much beyond assistance to pregnancy resource centers,” Margot Cleveland writes in The Federalist, referring to pro-life crisis pregnancy centers that prominent Democrats such Elizabeth Warren want to shut down.
Following the announcement of the budgetary vetoes, Whitmer’s spokesman, Bobby Leddy, called pro-life pregnancy clinics, “fake health centers,” parroting the lie that many Democrats have been using in recent weeks to discredit these facilities.
“Michigan must remain a place where a woman’s ability to make her own medical decisions with her trusted health care provider is respected,” Leddy said in a statement. “[Whitmer] cannot support aspects of a bill that sends millions in taxpayer dollars to fake health centers that intentionally withhold information from women about their health, bodies, and full reproductive freedom.”
Cleveland reports that Whitmer struck from the state budget $4 million previously allocated for maternity homes intended to provide “safe housing and comprehensive support services without charge for pregnant women who are without a safe home and in need.” Likewise, Whitmer reportedly struck “2 million in tax credits to adoptive parents and $10 million designed to provide factual information to pregnant women about adoption as an alternative to abortion” from the state budget.
In addition to these programs, Breitbart reports the governor also vetoed $3 million for a “maternal navigator pilot program,” and $700,000 for the Real Alternatives pregnancy program which promotes “childbirth, alternatives to abortion, and grief counseling.”
Reports conflict on the total dollar amount of vetoed items, with prices ranging from $16 million to upwards of $25.5 million.
Whitmer said these vetoed items “would have used state funding to pursue an anti-abortion political agenda.”
State Representative Thomas Albert reacted to the vetoes, saying, “It is shocking that the governor, and her far-left political base, are now so extreme that helping pregnant women who might consider adoption instead is now a bridge too far.”