{"id":1684452,"date":"2022-10-12T03:17:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T07:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1684452"},"modified":"2022-10-12T03:19:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T07:19:14","slug":"michigan-is-hiding-a-childrens-constitutional-right-to-genital-amputation-in-its-abortion-amendment-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-is-hiding-a-childrens-constitutional-right-to-genital-amputation-in-its-abortion-amendment-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Is Hiding A Children\u2019s Constitutional Right To Genital Amputation In Its Abortion Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichigan-is-hiding-a-childrens-constitutional-right-to-genital-amputation-in-its-abortion-amendment-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1684452&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>In less than one month, if Proposal 3 passes, children will have a right under the Michigan constitution to walk into one of Planned Parenthood\u2019s 12 so-called \u201cgender affirming\u201d facilities in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.plannedparenthood.org\/planned-parenthood-michigan\/healthcare\/gender-affirming-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">state<\/a> and, without parental knowledge or consent, obtain puberty blockers. And with Planned Parenthood of Michigan promising \u201cgender affirming\u201d care \u201cvia telehealth in the coming months,\u201d Michiganders\u2019 kids won\u2019t even need to leave their house to obtain these sterilizing drugs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Passage of Prop 3 will also give boys a constitutional right to be castrated and girls the right under Michigan\u2019s constitution to be sterilized by way of a hysterectomy or the removal of their ovaries \u2014 all without their parents\u2019 consent.<\/p>\n<p>Deceptive marketing by Planned Parenthood and far-left politicians, such as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, hides this reality from Michigan voters, leading Prop 3 to be uniformly referred to as \u201cthe abortion amendment\u201d even though the expansive language of the proposed constitutional amendment reaches far beyond abortion. And on abortion alone, notwithstanding proponents\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2022\/08\/16\/michigan-abortion-law-amendment\/10296812002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claims<\/a> that \u201cpassing this amendment simply restores the same protections that Michiganders had for five decades under <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>,\u201d Prop 3 goes far beyond the controlling <em>Roe-Casey <\/em>precedent: If passed, the constitutional amendment would create an extreme regime in Michigan of abortion on demand, at any time, for any reason, without informed or parental consent, and paid for by taxpayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The expansive and legalistically worded language of Prop 3, crafted by Planned Parenthood and left-wing backers, however, extends beyond abortion to create a constitutional right to several aspects of what transgender activists call \u201cgender-affirming care,\u201d despite it being <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/19\/gender-affirming-care-is-the-opposite-of-gender-affirming-and-caring\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">neither affirming nor caring<\/a>. And Prop 3 extends that right to all individuals, including children.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is not merely a political point, and it is not a worst-case-scenario argument based on how some liberal activist judge or justice might interpret Prop 3. This reality flows from the plain language of Prop 3 and rests on general legal principles of constitutional construction.<\/p>\n<h2>It\u2019s Right in the Text<\/h2>\n<p>Here is the pertinent language Prop 3 would etch into the Michigan constitution as Article 1, Section 28, with the key language underscored:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(1) <span>Every individual<\/span> has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, <span>which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to<\/span> pregnancy, <span>including but not limited to<\/span> prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, <span>sterilization<\/span>, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care. An <span>individual\u2019s right<\/span> to reproductive freedom <span>shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means<\/span>. \u2026<\/p>\n<p>(2) The state shall not discriminate in the protection or enforcement of this fundamental right.<\/p>\n<p>* * *\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>(4) For the purposes of this section:<\/p>\n<p>A state interest is \u201ccompelling\u201d <span>only if it is for the limited purpose of protecting the health of an individual seeking care, consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine, and does not infringe on that individual\u2019s autonomous decision-making<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>(5) This section shall be self-executing\u2026.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>P<\/strong>rop 3 Applies to Men and Women <span>AND<\/span> Boys and Girls<\/h2>\n<p><strong><\/strong>By its express terms, Prop 3 applies to \u201cevery individual\u201d and guarantees an \u201cindividual\u2019s right.\u201d The proposed constitutional amendment further provides that \u201cthe state shall not discriminate in the protection or enforcement of this fundamental right.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As a matter of constitutional interpretation, then, the rights guaranteed by Prop 3 would be rights that both adults and children possess as \u201cindividuals,\u201d and the rights apply equally to males and females.<\/p>\n<p>This proposal represents a huge demarcation from controlling Michigan law, under which minors must have parental consent to obtain medical treatment or receive prescription medications, with the only current exception being the judicial bypass provisions governing minors seeking abortions. Specifically, Michigan law currently provides that to obtain an abortion, females under the age of 18 must have the written consent of one parent or legal guardian, but the law allows a girl to seek permission for an abortion from a judge, called a \u201cjudicial bypass.\u201d A court must grant a judicial bypass if the judge finds either that \u201cthe minor is sufficiently mature and well-enough informed to make the decision regarding abortion independently of her parents or legal guardian,\u201d or \u201cthe waiver would be in the best interests of the minor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the context of abortion, Prop 3 guts Michigan\u2019s requirements for either parental consent or a judicial bypass, first by declaring that the amendment applies to all \u201cindividuals\u201d and second by expressly providing that \u201cthe state shall not discriminate in the protection or enforcement of this fundamental right.\u201d Treating females under 18 differently than those 18 or over is a textbook example of discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>Section 4 of the amendment further cements the reality that minors must be treated equivalent to adults for purposes of the rights Prop 3 would establish. That section of the proposed amendment expressly limits the justifications allowed for regulating abortion or the other rights Prop 3 would inscribe in the constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Under Section 4, the state may only regulate abortion and the other rights covered by the proposed constitutional amendment if it is necessary to \u201cprotect[] the health of an individual seeking care,\u201d and \u201cdoes not infringe on that individual\u2019s autonomous decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rights of parents do not matter; Mom and Dad have no rights. And even the health of the girl does not matter because, under the plain language of the amendment, the state\u2019s interest cannot \u201cinfringe\u201d on the \u201cindividual\u2019s autonomous decision-making.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This legal analysis flows straight from the plain language of Prop 3, but case law from other states where a state constitutional right to abortion exists <a href=\"https:\/\/kansascatholic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kirk-Testimony-on-VTB.pdf\">confirms<\/a> this analysis. For example, in Alaska and Florida, courts have declared parental consent and parental notification statutes unconstitutional. And courts in California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey have struck parental consent statutes.<\/p>\n<p>Prop 3\u2019s grant of such \u201cautonomous decision-making\u201d is not limited to abortion, however. Rather, the plain language of the proposed constitutional amendment provides that the right to \u201creproductive freedom,\u201d \u201centails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to \u2026 sterilization \u2026 or infertility care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under Michigan law currently, minors cannot be chemically or surgically sterilized (or rendered infertile) without their parents\u2019 consent, and even then most physicians would refuse to sterilize a minor \u2014 except in the case of transgender-identifying patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The modern medical community has embraced the transgender ideology that teaches that human beings can be born \u201cin the wrong body,\u201d and that the appropriate treatment for such individuals consists of making their bodies appear to conform to their \u201cinternal sense\u201d of gender.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The first step in such wrongly named \u201cgender-affirming\u201d medical response consists of prescribing puberty blockers to children. Puberty blockers, at a minimum, render children temporarily infertile by preventing them from maturing sexually, and a longer-term use renders them sterile. The surgical procedures used under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uofmhealth.org\/conditions-treatments\/transgender-services\/gender-confirmation-surgery#mtfreassignment\">guise<\/a> of \u201cgender confirmation\u201d \u2014 castration, hysterectomy, and the removal of ovaries \u2014 likewise sterilize the patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it is this very destruction of children\u2019s future fertility and the medical rendering of them sterile that has led to several states banning the use of puberty blockers and surgical \u201cgender confirming\u201d procedures on minors. For instance, in Iowa, the Legislature <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legis.iowa.gov\/docs\/publications\/LGI\/89\/HF193.pdf\">made<\/a> these legislative findings to explain its proposed ban on puberty blockers and surgical procedures that sterilize children:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Puberty blockers prevent gonadal maturation and thus render children taking these drugs infertile. Introducing cross-sex hormones to children with immature gonads as a direct result of pubertal blockade is expected to cause irreversible sterility. Sterilization is also permanent for those who undergo surgery to remove reproductive organs[.] \u2026 For these reasons, the decision to pursue a course of hormonal and surgical interventions to address a discordance between an individual\u2019s sex and sense of gender identity should not be presented to or determined for children who are incapable of comprehending the negative implications and life-course difficulties resulting from these interventions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But in Michigan, if passed, Prop 3 guarantees children the right to \u201cmake and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to \u2026 sterilization,\u201d and without \u201cdiscrimination,\u201d giving boys and girls the right to obtain puberty blockers and surgical sterilization without parental notice or consent.<\/p>\n<p>If passed, Section 4 of the proposed constitutional amendment will further guarantee that the Michigan Legislature cannot interfere in transgender minors\u2019 decisions to obtain puberty blockers or surgical \u201cgender reassignment\u201d through castration, removal of ovaries, or a hysterectomy. That section, as excerpted above, provides that the state may only regulate such procedures for the limited purpose of \u201cprotecting the health of an individual seeking care, consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine,\u201d and then, only so long as it \u201cdoes not infringe on that individual\u2019s autonomous decision-making.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the \u201caccepted clinical standards of practice\u201d by the supposed \u201cmainstream\u201d medical organizations is, at a minimum, to provide puberty blockers to children, with a steady movement toward the cash cow that is surgical interventions for minors.<\/p>\n<h2>Planned Parenthood Targets Kids One Way or Another<\/h2>\n<p>Again, these conclusions flow directly from the plain language of the proposed constitutional amendment. But here the public would be wise to note two significant facts: Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miplannedparenthood.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">helped<\/a> lead the ballot initiative to amend the Michigan constitution through the passage of Prop 3, deceptively described as the \u201cReproductive Freedom for All\u201d amendment, and Planned Parenthood <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/06\/planned-parenthood-isnt-on-the-way-out-its-transitioning-to-gender-bending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">now<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2021\/02\/18\/planned-parenthood-more-involved-in-transgender-revolution-than-you-realize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">represents<\/a> \u201cthe second largest provider of \u2018gender-affirming hormone therapy.\u2019\u201d In fact, less than two weeks ago, Planned Parenthood <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/health\/2022\/10\/03\/planned-parenthood-advertises-puberty-blockers-minors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched<\/a> an ad marketing puberty blockers to minors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What Planned Parenthood and its extremist political partners don\u2019t want publicized, however, is that a \u201cYes\u201d vote for Prop 3 will not merely make abortion-on-demand, for any reason, at any time, and without informed or parental consent the law of Michigan: It will guarantee that children have an unfettered \u201cright\u201d to \u201ctransition\u201d by obtaining puberty blockers and surgical sterilization, parents be damned.<\/p>\n<p>With less than one month to go before Michiganders cast their final ballots, little time remains to give proof to the left\u2019s lie that Prop 3 is about codifying <em>Roe<\/em>. It is not. It is about sacrificing the children of the state \u2014 both born and unborn.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. <\/p>\n<p>As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In less than one month, if Proposal 3 passes, children will have a right under the Michigan constitution to walk into one of Planned Parenthood\u2019s 12 so-called \u201cgender affirming\u201d facilities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1684452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1684452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1684452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1684452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1684452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}