This spring’s a waiting game for people involved in securing — or opposing — abortion rights. A recent draft Supreme Court opinion published by Politico confirmed what many suspected: that a sea change is coming in federal protections for abortion.
Prosecutors, in particular, need to plan for how they’ll follow guidelines of the 1931 Michigan abortion ban that is poised to prevail if Roe v Wade is vacated.
Kym Worthy, Wayne County prosecutor, is one of seven Michigan county prosecutors that have publicly said that they won’t prosecute abortion cases.
"I've gone on record and I'll say it again: I will not ever prosecute any doctor, nurse, health provider, or pregnant person who decides that they want to have an abortion," Worthy said.
Worthy believes that the 1931 law that will take effect if Roe v Wade is overturned is unconstitutional.
A few zip codes over in Macomb County, Prosecutor Pete Lucido disagrees with Worthy's approach.
"I promise under the state constitution, the U.S. constitution, and statutory laws to enforce the laws of this state. That's a prosecutors oath of office," Lucido said. "And to go ahead and start to have a realization of prosecutors picking and choosing whether or not they're going to enforce a law is very scary. It's a slippery slope we're going down."
On todays podcast, we'll hear from both Kym Worthy and Pete Lucido on their perspectives.
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Music in today's episode by Blue Dot Sessions.
