Granholm: Abortion veto will stand
Detroit News
October 15, 2003
Associated Press
Governor doesn't believe there are enough votes to override her decisionLANSING -- The governor said Monday that she doesn't think there are enough votes in the state Legislature to override her veto of a bill that would effectively ban certain late-term abortion procedures. Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the bill was flawed because it didn't have an exception for the health of the mother. Michigan has failed twice -- in 1996 and 1999 -- to have the courts declare constitutional a ban on what abortion opponents call partial-birth abortion, mostly because exceptions for the health of the mother weren't included. Granholm also said that the way the bill defined life could arguably apply to abortions in the first trimester. The legislation would have created the "Legal Birth Definition Act" and defined the moment a person is legally born as being when any part of a fetus is expelled from a woman's body. A fetus that has a detectable heartbeat or shows evidence of breathing, spontaneous movement or a pulsating umbilical cord could be considered alive under the bill. Granholm vetoed the Senate bill Friday. The Senate voted 25-11 Sept. 30 to send the bill to Granholm. The Senate vote was one short of the 26 needed in the 38-member chamber to override a governor's veto. Bill Nowling, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming, said Republican Senate leaders were reviewing the veto message Monday and haven't decided whether to hold a vote to override the veto.
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