 ccrp alert pending abortion insurance vote in legislature  the abortion insurance initiative petition vote will be up for consideration and a possible vote this week in the legislature approval by the senate is expected but there is no guarantee the vote in the house could be more problematic hopefully the legislature will have the courage to address the issue and vote to pass it if they do it will become law because the governor can t veto it like he did in the last legislative session the legislature could decide to not do anything and then it would be on the ballot for all michigan voters to decide next year let rsquo s help our elected leader decide the issue please call or email your state senator and representative and tell them to vote for approval of the initiative petition in clinton county call or email representative tom leonard tomleonard housemigov phone 517 3731778 senator judy emmons 517 3733760 http wwwsenatemichigangov imaformasp name comment33 formpath e webforms rep senator rick jones 517 3733447 senrjones senatemichigangov background on the initiative petition the state board of canvassers has unanimously certified an initiative petition that would make people purchase an abortion rider on insurance policies rather than offer it as a standard option to all policy holders the legislature has strong antiabortion majorities in both chambers and if they choose to take it up it has a good chance of passing and immediately becoming law but democrats and abortion rights supporters are trying to stop its passage michigan right to life which spearheaded the petition drive argues no one should be forced to subsidize abortion mdash either through federally subsidized health exchange insurance plans or through the premiums they pay on private insurance if the petition becomes law michigan would join eight other states that have instituted policies prohibiting public and private insurance plans from including abortion coverage in health care policies another 15 states prohibit the coverage in insurance purchased through the health exchanges set up through the affordable care act the initiative would require all private and public health insurance plans to offer a separate rider for an abortion people would then have to buy that rider before knowing whether they would need an abortion and wouldn rsquo t be able to buy the rider after getting pregnant by any means including rape or incest the number of abortions in michigan hit a high of 49098 in 1987 but has steadily decreased since hitting a low of 22357 in 2009 last year 23230 abortions were performed in the state the legislature has 40 session days to deal with the petition initiative the 40 day time period began on december 3 but the legislature will take a break when they adjourn in middecember for threeweeks a majority of the members in both chambers signed the petition and backed legislation last year that did the same thing that bill was vetoed by gov rick snyder who called it an inappropriate intrusion into private health insurance   all emails addresses  