Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
ABORTION-RELATED AMENDMENTS
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bill 4949 as introduced Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Laurie Pohutsky http://www.legislature.mi.gov
House Bill 4950 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou
House Bill 4951 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Kara Hope
House Bill 4952 as introduced House Bill 4956 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Carrie Rheingans Sponsor: Rep. Julie M. Rogers
House Bill 4953 as introduced House Bill 4957 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Christine Morse Sponsor: Rep. Samantha Steckloff
House Bill 4954 as introduced House Bill 4958 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Felicia Brabec Sponsor: Rep. Regina Weiss
House Bill 4955 as introduced House Bill 4959 (proposed substitute H-1)
Sponsor: Rep. Natalie Price Sponsor: Rep. Kristian Grant
Committee: Health Policy
Complete to 9-20-23
SUMMARY:
House Bills 4949 to 4959 would create a new act and amend several existing acts to revise and
repeal provisions of law related to abortion services. In November 2022, Michigan voters
approved Ballot Proposal 3, which added section 28 of Article I to the state constitution.1
Among other things, that section provides that “[e]very 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.” (The
full text of section 28 of Article I is included in Background, below.) The bills, briefly
described, would prohibit a governmental entity from violation section 28 of Article I and
reenact most of its provisions as statute (HB 4949), repeal sections of law that define and
prohibit specified abortion procedures (HB 4949), repeal requirements regarding health
insurance coverage of abortion services (HB 4949), repeal or amend sections of law that
prescribe procedures or other requirements for health facilities and professionals that perform
abortions (HB 4950), repeal or amend sections of law that now prohibit or direct the use of
public funds related to abortion (HBs 4949, 4957, 4958, and 4959), and make complementary
changes to other sections of law. The bills are described in greater detail below.
1
See https://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/PDF/Alpha/Ballot_Proposal_3_of_2022.pdf
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 House Bill 4949 would create a new act to prohibit a governmental entity from violating
section 28 of Article I of the state constitution.
Governmental entity would mean any of the following:
• The state and its agencies, departments, commissions, courts, boards, councils,
and statutorily created task forces.
• A county, city, village, township, school district, or other political subdivision
of the state.
• An agency, department, court, board, commission, or council of a county, city,
village, township, school district, or other political subdivision of the state.
• An official of any of the entities described above.
The bill also includes the full text of section 28 of Article I of the state constitution (see
Background, below) and says that those provisions apply in Michigan, except that it does not
include the constitutional clause that says “The state shall not discriminate in the protection or
enforcement of this fundamental right [to reproductive freedom].”
One of the provisions from the constitution included in the bill allows the state to regulate the
provision of abortion care after fetal viability. 2 Under the constitution and as included the bill,
this applies notwithstanding other provisions that prohibit an individual’s fundamental right to
reproductive freedom from being denied, burdened, or infringed upon unless justified by a
compelling state interest 3 achieved by the least restrictive means. However, under the
constitution and as included in the bill, the state cannot under any circumstances prohibit an
abortion that, in the professional judgment of an attending health care professional, is medically
indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.
The bill would add that, in determining whether an abortion is medically indicated to protect
the life or physical or mental health of a pregnant individual under the provision described
above, the attending health care professional may consider any factor that they consider
relevant to the well-being of the pregnant individual, including the pregnant individual’s age
and physical, emotional, psychological, and familial considerations.
Remedies
The bill would authorize the attorney general to enforce the provisions described above under
the heading “Other provisions” through a civil action for injunctive relief, damages, or any
other appropriate remedy.
In addition, an individual or entity or their legal representative could bring a civil action for
injunctive relief, damages, or any other appropriate remedy in the appropriate state or federal
court for an alleged violation by a governmental entity (as defined above) of the individual’s
or entity’s rights under either of the following:
• The provisions described above under “Other provisions.”
• Section 28 of Article I of the state constitution.
2
Fetal viability is defined as the point in pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of an attending health care
professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained
survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.
3
A state interest is defined as being compelling only if it is for the limited purpose of protecting the health of an
individual seeking care, consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does
not infringe on that individual’s autonomous decision-making.
House Fiscal Agency Committee summary of HBs 4949 to 4959 Page 2 of 10
 Repealers
Finally, the bill would repeal all of the following:
• Section 90h of the Michigan Penal Code, 4 the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which
defines and prohibits partial-birth abortion procedures, makes violation a felony, and
provides grounds for civil action. (MCL 750.90h)
• Section 323 of the Michigan Penal Code, 5 which defines as manslaughter an abortion
or attempted abortion of a “quick child” (unless necessary to protect the pregnant
individual’s life) that results in the death of the pregnant individual or the quick child.
(MCL 750.323)
• The Legal Birth Definition Act, 6 which provided that perinates as defined in the act are
legally born persons under Michigan law. The act was found to be unconstitutional in
2007. (MCL 333.1081 to 333.1085)
• 2002 PA 360, 7 known as the Allocation of Funds to Family Planning Services Act,
which requires priority in the allocation of funds for reproductive health programs and
services administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to be
given to entities that do not perform or allow abortions, make referrals for abortion
services, or present abortion as being in a range of family planning or reproductive
health services. (MCL 333.1091)
• The Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act, 8 which requires coverage in a health care plan
for most abortion services to be provided only through an optional rider with an
additional premium, prescribes notice that an employer must provide to employees if
the employer purchases optional abortion coverage, and prescribes a civil fine for
certain violations by health professionals or facilities. (MCL 550.541 to 550.549)
The bill would take effect January 1, 2025. It cannot take effect unless HBs 4950 and 4958 are
both also enacted.
House Bill 4950 would repeal the following sections of the Public Health Code:
• Section 2835, 9 which requires a physician who performs an abortion to report the
procedure to DHHS, prescribes requirements for the reports and their processing, and
makes violation of confidentiality requirements a felony. (MCL 333.2835)
• Section 2836, which prescribes requirements for the disposal of fetal remains from an
abortion. (Violation is a state civil infraction.) 10 (MCL 333.2836)
• Section 2837, which requires a physician to file a written report regarding patients who
suffer a physical complication or death that is a primary, secondary, or tertiary result
of an abortion and prescribes how those reports and that information are to be processed
and used. 11 (MCL 333.2837)
• Sections 17014 and 17015, which together require that a patient be provided with
specified visual materials and information at least 24 hours before a scheduled abortion
4
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-750-90h
5
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-750-323 At the time this law was first enacted, a “quick child” was
understood to be a fetus that could be felt moving.
6
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Act-135-of-2004
7
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Act-360-of-2002
8
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Act-182-of-2013
9
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-2835
10
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-2836
11
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-2837
House Fiscal Agency Committee summary of HBs 4949 to 4959 Page 3 of 10
 (such as, among other things, a description of the procedure, a medically accurate
depiction of a fetus at the same probable gestational age, and a prenatal and parenting
information pamphlet). The patient must sign an acknowledgment and consent form to
confirm receipt of the information and authorize the procedure. Section 17014 contains
legislative findings, and section 17015 has the substantive provisions that are described
in brief above. Section 17015 also contains a definition of “abortion” that is cited in
several other provisions of law. 12 (MCL 333.17014 and 333.17015)
• Section 17015a, which requires that a patient seeking an abortion be screened to
determine whether they have been coerced to do so and prescribes protocols for the
screening process. 13 (MCL 333.17015a)
• Sections 17016 and 17516, which define, and generally prohibit physicians from
performing, partial-birth abortion. 14 (MCL 333.17016 and 333.17516)
• Sections 17017 and 17517, which required a personal physical examination by a
physician before an abortion procedure involving prescription drugs and not surgery.
These sections expired December 31, 2018. 15 (MCL 333.17017 and 333.17517)
• Section 17515, which requires osteopathic physicians to comply with sections 17015
and 17015a (described above). 16 (MCL 333.17515)
• Section 22224, which exempts health facilities that are required to be licensed as
freestanding surgical outpatient facilities due to their provision of abortion services
from certificate of need requirements. 17 (MCL 333.22224)
The bill would also amend several sections of the code to remove references to the sections
described above, notably in provisions that provide penalties or sanctions for a violation of
those sections. (For example, removing section 2836, which the bill would repeal, from section
2854, which now prescribes sanctions for a violation, and removing sections 17015, 17015a,
17016, 17017, 17515, 17516, and 17517 from sections 16221 and 16226, which prescribe
licensure sanctions for their violation by a licensed health professional.)
Definition of “abortion”
As noted above, section 17015 of the code, which the bill would repeal, contains a definition
of the term abortion that is incorporated by reference into several other sections of law:
Abortion means the intentional use of an instrument, drug, or other substance or device
to terminate a woman’s pregnancy for a purpose other than to increase the probability
of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a
fetus that has died as a result of natural causes, accidental trauma, or a criminal assault
on the pregnant woman. Abortion does not include the use or prescription of a drug or
device intended as a contraceptive.
12
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17014 and http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17015
13
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17015a
14
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17016 and http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17516
15
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17017 and http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17517
16
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-17515
17
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-22224
House Fiscal Agency Committee summary of HBs 4949 to 4959 Page 4 of 10
 The bill would amend sections 2803 and 10102, 18 which reference the definition in section
17015, to remove those references and instead provide the following definition of abortion for
purposes of those sections:
Abortion means a medical treatment that is intended to terminate a diagnosable
intrauterine pregnancy for a purpose other than to produce a live birth. Abortion does
not include the use or prescription of a drug or device that prevents pregnancy or a
medical treatment used to remove a dead fetus or embryo whose death was the result
of a spontaneous abortion.
The above definition would also apply to section 2690. The bill would use the term “abortion”
in that section where now the term “elective abortion” is defined and used. 19
Other provisions
The bill would amend section 9141 of the code to remove a provision that now requires that an
entity that receives a grant for the purchase of ultrasound equipment must agree not to use that
equipment to assist in the performance of an elective abortion as defined in that section.
The bill would amend section 20115 to remove provisions that now require a facility, including
a private practice office, that performs 120 or more surgical abortions per year to be licensed
as a freestanding surgical outpatient facility under the code and include related requirements.
The bill cannot take effect unless HB 4949 is also enacted.
MCL 333.2690 et seq.
House Bill 4951 would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to change citation references
to comport with changes proposed by HB 4949. The bill also would amend the sentencing
guidelines to remove felonies that HBs 4949 and 4950 would repeal (sections 90h and 323 of
the Michigan Penal Code and section 2835 of the Public Health Code).
The bill cannot take effect unless HB 4950 is also enacted.
MCL 762.10d et seq.
House Bill 4952 would amend the Born Alive Infant Protection Act to change the definition
of the term abortion for purposes of the act. Currently, abortion means that term as defined in
section 17015 of the Public Health Code, which HB 4950 would repeal. The bill would
accordingly remove the reference section 17015 and add the definition, described above, that
would also be added to the Public Health Code by HB 4950.
The Born Alive Infant Protection Act requires certain procedures to be followed if an abortion
results in a live birth (as defined in the act). For example, in a hospital setting, the attending
physician must provide immediate medical care to the newborn, inform the mother of the live
birth, and request transfer of the newborn to another physician for medical care. In addition, if
18
Section 2803 defines the term for purposes of Part 28 (Vital Records) of the code, and section 10102 defines it for
purposes of Part 101 (Revised Anatomical Gift Law).
19
See http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-2690
House Fiscal Agency Committee summary of HBs 4949 to 4959 Page 5 of 10
 an abortion results in a live birth and the mother expresses a desire not to assume custody and
responsibility for the newborn, the newborn is considered a newborn who has been surrendered
to an emergency service provider under the Safe Delivery of Newborns Law (Chapter XII of