Whitmer signs law to add abortion rights to civil rights act

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a law Wednesday to add reproductive rights protections to Michigan’s civil rights law.

The new law adds abortion protections to Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which covers employment, housing, education and public accommodations.

Among other things, the expansion of the law would protect women from on-the-job discrimination in hiring or promotions over a decision to have an abortion.

“No one in Michigan should face discrimination because they exercised their constitutional rights, including their right to reproductive freedom by having an abortion,” Whitmer said in a statement released by her office.

Whitmer also signed a law earlier this year to formally repeal Michigan’s 1931 statutory abortion ban. All this comes after voters last year approved an amendment to the state constitution with sweeping protections for reproductive rights.