Judge Elizabeth Gleicher of the Michigan Court of Petitions ruled that Michigan’s constitution guarantees a right to bodily autonomy, including abortion. The ruling is a victory for providers, including an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, who filed a lawsuit to block the law.
“A law denying safe, routine medical care not only robs women of their ability to control their bodies and their lives – it robs them of their dignity,” Ms Gleicher wrote.
Leaders of the Republican-controlled state legislature, which has championed the law, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The decision came as the Michigan Supreme Court had until Friday to decide whether an amendment to legalize abortion statewide will appear on ballots in November.
Planned Parenthood and two doctors sued the state in April as the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether to overturn its longstanding precedent in Roe v. Wade, which established a national right to abortion. They said the 1931 law, which only allows abortion to save the life of the mother, violated the state constitution’s right to due process and equal protection of the law.
Gleicher temporarily blocked the law in May, preventing it from taking effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe in June in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, said the state would take no action to enforce the law. However, some county attorneys have said they would enforce it if allowed.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe, about half of US states are expected to seek to restrict abortions, or have already done so, sparking a flurry of litigation across the country.
Democrats are increasingly hoping the Supreme Court’s decision will bolster voter support in the midterm elections, which would historically see the party lose control of one or both houses of Congress.