Births in Michigan are at the lowest levels since 1940.

You could call it the anti-Baby Boom.

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In fact, the Detroit News reports that 2022 was the third straight year that Michigan deaths (110,472) exceeded births in the state (100,853).

The paper, however, doesn’t include one key factor in the declining number of birthday outings for Michigan children, namely, abortion and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) determined efforts to promote abortion procedures.

Michigan Department of Community Health records indicate the number of induced abortions in the state has been increasing steadily since Whitmer took office in 2019. In that year, 27,339 induced abortions were reported, up from 26,716 induced abortions reported in 2018.

The number of abortions in Michigan continued to increase after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. MDCH reported 30,120 abortions in 2022, up from 30,074 abortions in 2021. That places a 286.8 ratio of abortions versus 1,000 live births in 2022 or a rate of nearly 16 abortions for every live birth by a Michigan woman aged 15 to 44. Abortions have grown 12% since Whitmer was elected.

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In 2021, as noted by The Midwesterner, more than 40% of abortions in the state were performed in Wayne County. More than 55% of those abortions were performed on black patients.

Induced abortion numbers had been decreasing for the most part since the 1980s when abortions in the state totaled over 40,000 between the years 1982 and 1988.

Lower birth rates have been trending downward internationally, with few exceptions over the past decade. Michigan’s live births have consistently declined since 1957 when the state reported nearly 208,500 live births.

According to the News, citing 2022 U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Michigan ranked 49^th in the nation for population growth. Only West Virginia fared worse, actually losing population.

Despite lower birth rates and increasing numbers of abortions in the state, Whitmer has been adamant about promoting the state’s readily accessible abortion procedures to women in states with more stringent abortion regulations. In September 2021, the governor vetoed $16 million in proposed spending in the 2022 budget that she said wasn’t sufficiently supportive of abortion rights.

Conversely, Whitmer has expressed concerns about the state’s declining population. Last June, she announced she was appointing the 28 members of the Growing Michigan Together Council to staunch out-state migration of Michigan college graduates and other efforts to “grow Michigan.”