Parents want what’s best for our children.  It’s only natural.  We want to give our children a better life than we had – we want them to succeed and to thrive.  We do that by being involved in their lives and by mentoring them as they grow.  That’s hard to do, though, if we are relegated to the sidelines.

What does all this have to do with proposal 3?  Proposal 3 is a proposed amendment to the Michigan state constitution that seeks to give all individuals a right to reproductive freedom.  The full text of the proposed amendment is found here.  The specifics, though, are important.  A compilation of various key sections from proposal 3 reads as follows:

“Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care…. An individual’s right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon …. The state shall not …. penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action against someone for aiding or assisting a pregnant individual in exercising their right to reproductive freedom with their voluntary consent.” (Reproductive Freedom, 2022)

What does all this mean?  It means that nothing can be allowed to stand between a consenting minor, vulnerable person, or mentally challenged person (among others) and their being sterilized, having an abortion, obtaining contraceptives, and the like.

Advocates of proposal 3 proclaim that this amendment will keep all unnecessary parties out of the decision-making process when a woman decides to keep or abort a pregnancy (Reproductive Freedom, 2022).  This is true, but there is far more to the story.

Proposal 3 regards parents, caregivers, and guardians as unnecessary.  For example:

Proposal 3 allows thirteen-year-old girls to obtain abortions without any education as to the potential consequences of their decision and without their parents’ knowledge (“An individual’s right to [make decisions about abortion care] shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon…” (Reproductive Freedom, 2022)).

Proposal 3 allows grade school children to choose to be permanently sterilized without their parent’s consent or input (“An individual’s right to [make decisions about sterilization] shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon…” (Reproductive Freedom, 2022)).

Proposal 3 allows teenage children to obtain unrestricted, confidential access to contraceptives (“An individual’s right to [make decisions about contraception] shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon…” (Reproductive Freedom, 2022)).

Proposal 3, by allowing such actions, implicitly prohibits parents, caregivers, and guardians from taking any sort of recourse against those who helped carry out such actions without their knowledge.  It explicitly prohibits taking any sort of recourse against anyone who helps a pregnant person obtain a secret abortion (for example, your teenage daughter would be able to request and obtain a confidential abortion from her school without your knowledge, and you would not have the right to sue or take any other action against the school for their failure to notify you). As the proposed amendment states, “The state shall not …. take adverse action against someone for… assisting a pregnant individual in exercising their right to reproductive freedom with their voluntary consent.” (Reproductive Freedom, 2022)

While the point concerning grade school children choosing to be sterilized seems laughable at first blush, the proposed amendment could easily be interpreted to require gender transition surgeries to be administered without parental knowledge or consent.  After all, gender transition surgeries are known to result in sterilization; a 2019 study published by the medical journal Translational Andrology and Urology stated “Both transgender men and women are at risk of losing their reproductive potential during the process of medical or surgical transition with [hormone therapy] or gender-affirming bottom surgery.” (Cheng, 2019)  Given the tone of recent Michigan Supreme Court decisions (such as the July 2022 decision in Rouch World, LLC. v. Department of Civil Rights), such a legal interpretation of this proposed amendment is not unreasonable.

Regardless of what one may believe about LGBTQ rights and the ongoing abortion debate, surely the wording of proposal 3 is recklessly broad.  Proposal 3 ignores the rights of parents, caregivers, and guardians.  It does not allow for anyone to protect children or the vulnerable from the consequences of their actions, and does not allow for those who have been harmed to recover any losses or damages resulting from their actions.  It does, however, shield those who cause harm from any repercussions for their actions.

Planned Parenthood, which has given hundreds of thousands of dollars of in-kind donations in support of the proposed amendment (Ballotpedia, 2022), stands to profit handsomely from this proposal.  Not only would their lucrative abortion business be kept legal by the state constitution, but they would be freed from many of the regulations that now burden their operations (since the amendment states that “[a]n individual’s right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon” (Reproductive Freedom, 2022)).  Furthermore, Planned Parenthood would be almost untouchable in court, even in cases of malpractice, as a result of this amendment (after all, “[t]he state shall not …. penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action against someone for aiding or assisting a pregnant individual in exercising their right to reproductive freedom with their voluntary consent.” (Reproductive Freedom, 2022)).

So, should big business profit by placing Michigan children at risk?  Should Planned Parenthood profit by pulling parents away from their protective roles?  Only you can make that choice by reading the full text of the proposed amendment and by voting on November 8.

‍