20 | MAY 19 • 2022

OUR COMMUNITY

A conversation with constitutional law professor Robert Sedler.

What Would Overruling
Roe v Wade
Mean for Michigan?

DAVID SACHS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
R

obert Sedler, 86, a retired constitu-
tional law professor at Wayne State
University, is no stranger to the bat-
tle for reproductive rights. While teaching
law at the University of Kentucky prior to
the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, Sedler filed
suit along with the ACLU to overturn the
Kentucky abortion ban. Their efforts were
unsuccessful, but the U.S. Supreme Court’s
decision in Roe immediately threw out
every state’s abortion ban.
Now, a leaked draft opinion
written by Supreme Court
Justice Samuel Alito indicates
the high court will overrule
Roe and throw the question of
the legality of abortion back to
the individual states.
Professor Sedler was inter-
viewed last week by the JN on
how he foresees the current
controversy playing out.

PROFESSOR, WHAT WOULD BE
THE IMPACT IN MICHIGAN IF ROE V
WADE WERE OVERRULED?
In Michigan, the ACLU and other groups
are collecting signatures for a ballot pro-
posal that would amend the Michigan
Constitution to essentially incorporate Roe
v Wade. I’ve worked on that ballot proposal.
Also, Gov. Whitmer has filed a suit in the
Michigan Supreme Court, and the ACLU
and other groups have filed suits in lower
courts.
So, I think there’s a good likelihood that,
one way or another, this will not affect
Michigan. I think that the seven-member
Michigan Supreme Court, which has four

Democrats and one reasonable Republican,
Elizabeth Clement, would uphold abortion
rights.

PRIOR TO 1973, ABORTIONS WERE
ALLOWED IN MICHIGAN ONLY TO
PROTECT THE HEALTH OF THE
MOTHER. IF ROE WERE OVERRULED,
DOES THE 1931 LAW AGAIN TAKE
EFFECT?
If the U.S. Supreme Court overrules Roe v
Wade, at that point in time, abor-
tion would be illegal in Michigan.
Now, this is why you have the bal-
lot proposal, and this is why you
have the suits under the Michigan
Constitution — and it’s entirely a
matter of Michigan law.
But let me make another point.
Let’s suppose that abortion is
illegal in Michigan and a woman
finds herself pregnant. What can
she do?
Well, if she lives in the eastern part of
the state like Detroit, she can go across the
river to Windsor because abortion is legal
in Canada. If she lives in the western part of
the state, she can go to Chicago.
So, as a practical matter, this is not going
to prevent women in Michigan from get-
ting abortions.
Now, you’re going to hear the pro-choice
people say this will affect poor woman,
which it will. But right now, poor women
don’t have abortion covered by Medicaid
in Michigan. And in any event, you can be
assured that the wealthy liberals will raise
money to enable women to go to other
states and get abortions.

COULD SOME STATES TRY TO
BLOCK WOMEN FROM SEEKING
ABORTIONS IN OTHER STATES?
There is a constitutional right to travel. The
red states are digging in. There are maybe
27-28 states that are very confident that
their voters are opposed to abortion, or at
least won’t stop the legislature. And some of
the states were going to make it a crime to
assist anybody going to another state.
Now, that would seem to violate the
constitutional right to travel. People have
a right to travel interstate the length and
breadth of the land.

IF ROE IS OVERRULED, ON DAY 1 DO
ABORTION PROVIDERS IN MICHIGAN
HAVE TO STOP UNDER THE 1931
LAW?
I suspect that by that time the Michigan
Supreme Court or some courts will resolve
the issue. Also, state Attorney General Dana
Nessel has said she will not enforce it. And
you can be assured that county prosecutors
Karen McDonald in Oakland and Kym
Worthy in Wayne are not going to prose-
cute anybody.
However, there’s another dimension to
that. If a doctor performs an illegal abor-
tion, the doctor runs the risk of losing his
or her license — and the medical board
could go after the doctor. So, you see, there
are many sides to this issue.

WHAT ABOUT ABORTIONS SOLEY
BY USE OF MEDICATION, WITHOUT
THE ASSISTANCE OF A SURGEON?
There’s a whole slew of medications that
can provide abortions up to about 10

Professor
Robert Sedler