IN MICHIGAN—During a trip to Michigan on Friday, US Senator and past presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren gave voters in Michigan a strong warning before the election:
“You are not safe,” Warren told a group of women in a Royal Oak coffee shop, where she was meeting with southeast Michigan activists and state senator Mallory McMorrow.
“If Trump and the Republicans take over, we will all no longer be able to get abortions,” she said. “Michigan women are still not safe, even though the state law now protects abortion rights. In Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, or California, you are not safe. They want to kill all of us. “Everyone is in danger.”
Warren’s day-long trip to Michigan on Friday comes about six months before millions of mailboxes across the country start getting absentee ballots for the presidential race. It also comes about seven months before early voting starts in person across the state.
It couldn’t be more important, Warren said.
Warren said, “We need to not only speak out for President Biden but also make sure everyone knows what’s at stake this year—because what’s behind Door No. 2 is awful.” “Michigan is very important. That’s why we know losing Michigan won’t save the country.
‘They’re Coming for You’
In the summer of 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which said that everyone had the constitutional right to an abortion. In response, Michiganders quickly filled the gap by passing a ballot initiative that added abortion rights to the state constitution and state laws that made it easier for people to get care.
The reproductive rights of Michiganders have never been safer than they are now, with President Joe Biden in the White House, Whitmer as governor, and Democrats controlling both houses of the Michigan government and the US Senate.
But if Trump and other anti-abortion Republicans take over the federal government in 2025, it will mean broad limits on abortion across the country, even in Michigan, where those rights are protected, Warren told voters many times on Friday.
Warren said, “Federal law is more important than state law, and they’re coming for you.” “How do I know they’re coming for all of us? Since they’re already moving.”
Trump has talked a lot about how he helped the US Supreme Court reject Roe v. Wade, a decision that said women had the constitutional right to an abortion for almost 50 years. Since the law was revoked, Republicans have tried many times to pass a law that would ban abortions across the country.
A big plan called Project 2025 was also made by a group of conservative groups and activists with ties to Trump. It shows how they plan to use almost every part of the federal government to make it harder to get an abortion, such as making it illegal to possess and use abortion drugs without actually passing any new laws.
As another way to stop medication abortions across the country, anti-abortion groups have said they will try to get Republicans to police the Comstock Act of 1873 again. This law says that “anything designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion” cannot be mailed.
If you look at the Comstock Act in a broad way, it could be used to stop shipments of medical materials used in clinics, as well as to ban abortions completely in all 50 states.
‘Not on My Watch’
Warren had a meeting with voters in Lansing in the morning and a rally at a steelworkers union shop in Southfield in the afternoon. She stopped by a coffee shop in Royal Oak on Friday between the two events. At the rally, she gave the same message to a much larger group of local workers.
She said, “I’m here because Joe Biden is fighting for abortion rights, so I’m fighting for Joe Biden.” “I’m fighting for Joe Biden because he wants to lower costs for families.” To make our unions stronger, Joe Biden fights. It’s up to Joe Biden to keep our system alive.
The right-wing think group Heritage Foundation is in charge of Project 2025. For years, the Heritage Foundation has been a strong opponent of IVF. Trump now says he “strongly supports” IVF, but during his time in office, his government worked with ultra-conservatives who said IVF was the same as murder.
Warren said she thinks that if Republicans take back control of the US Senate, they will not only ban abortion, but also limit IVF, birth control, and other types of care. There are also limits that she thinks Trump will put in place if he gets back into the White House.
Biden, on the other hand, has signed a number of orders that boost access to birth control and protect access to abortion, including medicine abortion. He has also asked Congress many times to bring back government protections that were taken away when Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Warren said, “Donald Trump is directly responsible for taking away the constitutional rights to abortion that were given to half of the people in this country.” “That is what Donald Trump left behind, and that’s why I’m here to fight.” Joe Biden is doing something, and that’s how we know him.
“Not on my watch,” she said again. “I’m coming to Michigan to hear you say it one more time.”
