327
submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Ten years ago, as Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature was on the verge of passing one of the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion laws at the time, a 42-year-old state senator from East Lansing took to the Senate floor to speak out against what she knew was about to happen.

Minutes into her speech, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer tossed aside her prepared remarks and revealed for the first time publicly that she had been raped while attending college. Had she become pregnant, Whitmer said, she would not have been able to afford an abortion under the proposed law.

The bill, which Whitmer had derisively called “rape insurance” because it required women to declare when buying health insurance whether they expected to receive an abortion, passed anyway. But Whitmer, now in her second term as Michigan’s governor after winning reelection by nearly 11 percentage points in 2022, this week removed the requirement from state law with the stroke of a pen after Michigan’s Democratic-controlled Legislature sent her a bill tossing it aside.

“It’s kind of a stunning full-circle moment where it does reinforce that these fights are worth having and they’re winnable, even if sometimes it takes a little longer than it should,” Whitmer said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press.

all 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] AuntieFreeze@lemmy.world 44 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I know people who live in rural Michigan and you'd think she was the literal devil by the way some talk about her. They never usually elaborate after saying 'this place has gone to shit because of her'.

She seems like an upgrade to the old senile dudes running my state.

[-] billiam0202@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

I once worked with a guy who was from Michigan. He had no shortage of things to say about those "facking yoopers."

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

She's a real cool cat :)

Edits: Also her name reminds me of the girl from Recess so that's alright as well

Edit: Canada's positive influence rubs off on border States perhaps...

[-] Rapidcreek@reddthat.com 23 points 11 months ago

She’s the party’s leader and top talent in the Midwest. Good bench for the dems.. "Big Gretch" probably looks good on a bumper sticker.

[-] zdrvr@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

I think the redistricting in 2020 helped more than abortion but I think both have been a real positive.

[-] hark@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Yep, plus mail-in voting. Michigan is a lot bluer than people think.

[-] ownsauce@kbin.social 5 points 11 months ago
[-] bmsok@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Big Gretch for President. I've been to her home a few times and she's always taken the time to engage in conversation as a down to earth person.

She's always been a wonderful conversationalist, person, and is a politician that genuinely cares about making peoples' lives better.

She has my vote when she decides to run.

[-] Jaderick@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

This is good to hear. I’ve heard she’s very much a politician first, actual person second from people who knew her, but that’s all secondhand.

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Minutes into her speech, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer tossed aside her prepared remarks and revealed for the first time publicly that she had been raped while attending college.

Whitmer recalled the hundreds of calls and emails she received after her 2013 speech as a turning point for her, the moment when she realized how much people care about protecting a woman’s right to choose whether she should have an abortion.

It’s a lesson she hopes to drive home all over the country as one of the nation’s leading abortion rights advocates during what could prove to be a pivotal election year for the issue in 2024.

When constitutional questions about abortion rights appeared on the ballot, even voters in Republican-leaning states from Kansas to Ohio rejected GOP-backed efforts to curb them.

Michigan was a critical component of the so-called blue wall of states, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, that Biden returned to the Democratic column, helping him win the White House in 2020.

Whitmer, who is co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign and has herself been frequently mentioned as a future presidential candidate, deflected questions Monday about his chances in Michigan, insisting that she was only going to “focus on reproductive rights today.”


The original article contains 1,079 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 81%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
327 points (98.8% liked)

politics

19144 readers
1420 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS