Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a champion of disgraced medical advisor Anthony Fauci, contends abortion restrictions blocked by the Court of Claims on Tuesday have “no basis in science.”
“The 24-hour waiting period has no basis in science. It’s a political roadblock to shame women and often forces them to pay more or denies them care altogether,” Whitmer posted to X on Tuesday following the Court of Claims ruling. “Removing these barriers will ensure in Michigan, you can make the medical decisions best for you and your family.”
The 24-hour waiting period has no basis in science. It’s a political roadblock to shame women and often forces them to pay more or denies them care altogether.
Removing these barriers will ensure in Michigan, you can make the medical decisions best for you and your family. https://t.co/WpW8juu2Do
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) June 25, 2024
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The governor’s claim to “follow the science” included sporting a Fauci pillow on a shelf behind her during media interviews.
Whitmer-appointed Judge Sima Patel on Tuesday blocked the state from enforcing several abortion laws, alleging they infringe on the constitutional right to abortion approved by voters through Proposal 3 in November 2022, The Detroit News reports.
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The preliminary injunction granted by Patel prohibits the state from enforcing a required 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, mandates on information to patients before the procedure, and a ban on advance practice clinicians performing abortions.
Patel wrote the informed consent information “is metaphorically putting its finger on the scale, thereby infringing upon a patient’s deliberative process.” Other challenged laws Patel did not block “have less of an effect on a patient’s decision-making … since they are not tied to the mandatory 24-hour waiting period and patients can receive the counseling without any delay to care,” Patel wrote.
Patel found Michigan law that requires abortions to be performed by a physician – excluding nurses physician assistants and nurse midwives – “exacerbates existing provider shortages, leading to large swaths of Michigan that currently lack physicians to provide abortion care,” The Associated Press reports.
While the Tuesday ruling prevents the state from enforcing the Michigan’s abortion laws, the lawsuit from Northland Family Planning Centers and Medical Students for Choice continues in the Court of Claims.
Whitmer’s claim the ruling will ensure Michiganders “can make the medical decisions best for you and your family” comes just four years after the governor imposed medical decisions on 10 million Michiganders during the pandemic.
Those decisions, based on advice from Fauci, blocked children from attending school, restricted businesses from serving customers, prevented family members from consoling dying loved ones, forced toddlers to wear masks, locked the elderly in infected nursing homes, forced teens to test weekly for a disease that did not pose a serious health risk, and limited movements for all but “essential” workers, which included those who sell marijuana and liquor.
Whitmer ignored plans for pandemics developed by state health officials, public health and legal experts, opting instead to follow Fauci’s advice and impose her authority until “the economic and fiscal harms from this pandemic are contained.”
By 2022, the damage from Whitmer’s medical decisions on behalf of all Michiganders had cost 81,900 lost jobs and a quarter of its small- and mid-sized businesses, resulting in a state economy that took far longer than others to recover.
Amid it all, Whitmer trolled Republicans in the Michigan legislature with her support of Fauci, releasing a video in 2021 featuring the medical advisor’s face on a pillow in her home as she vowed to veto Republican legislation to improve election integrity.
Fauci has since admitted to the limited effectiveness of vaccines for respiratory diseases, and acknowledged that extended lockdowns were unnecessary, despite advocating for both during the pandemic.
Fauci wrote in research published by Cell Host and Microbe in February 2023 that it’s “not surprising” none of the COVID-19 viruses “have ever been effectively controlled by vaccines,” an observation that directly conflicts with his comments in May 2021, when as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases he said “when you get vaccinated” you “become a dead end to the virus,” The Center Square reported.
More recently, while promoting his new book on CBS News, Fauci admitted that extended school closures he advocated for were a mistake.
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“How long you kept it was the problem, because there was a disparity throughout the country,” he said. “If you go back and look at YouTube, I kept saying, ‘Close the bars, open the schools Open the schools as quickly and as safely as you possibly can.’ But initially to close it down was correct. Keeping it for a year was not a good idea.”
Ironically, Fauci criticized Whitmer in March 2021, nearly a year after Whitmer locked down the state, as she attempted to lift the pandemic restrictions.
“Just hold on a little longer, until you get the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated,” Fauci told CNN.