Michigan forcing pro-life groups to hire employees who support abortion: lawsuit
Quick Summary
- Two pro-life organizations sue to stop a Michigan law they say forces them to hire people who don't support their mission.
- Right to Life of Michigan and Pregnancy Resource Center claim the law violates their beliefs on human life.
- The law also mandates coverage for abortion in employee insurance plans.
Two pro-life organizations are suing Michigan over an antidiscrimination law that they contend will force them to hire employees who support abortion rights and don't live in accordance with the organizations' beliefs on human life.
Right to Life of Michigan and Pregnancy Resource Center filed the complaint last week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division, objecting to a state employment law that defines sex discrimination to include the choice to have an abortion. The groups also object to the law requiring employers to cover abortions if they provide pregnancy coverage for staff.
“Michigan’s law thus requires them to recruit and hire those with pro-abortion views, restricts these groups from explaining their pro-life requirements to applicants, and requires these groups to offer abortion coverage in their insurance plans because they generally offer insurance to their employees,” claims the lawsuit.
“The First Amendment protects Right to Life’s and PRC’s First Amendment freedoms to join with others to further a common cause and to refrain from participating in activities that contradict their beliefs. Michigan’s law infringes on these bedrock freedoms. For that reason, it is unconstitutional as applied here.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Michigan Department of Civil Rights Executive Director John E. Johnson, Jr., and members of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission are named as defendants.
Right to Life and PRC are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit that has successfully argued First Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
ADF Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart believes it makes “no sense to force pro-life organizations to hire employees who disagree with that view.”
“Pro-life groups should be free to share the message of hope and joy with women and families experiencing a difficult season through employees who share their common goal,” said Neihart in a statement.
“Michigan’s law forces these organizations to contradict their beliefs and to employ staff who endorse abortion — a decision that harms women and ends innocent lives.”
In May 2023, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed a bill that expanded the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include antidiscrimination protections for any woman who has had an abortion.
Known as Senate Bill 147, Whitmer said in a statement at the time that the new law protects "fundamental freedoms as the foundation of our democracy.”
“No one in Michigan should face discrimination because they exercised their constitutional rights, including their right to reproductive freedom by having an abortion,” she stated.
