Abortion rights poised to go before Michigan voters this fall as hundreds of thousands sign petition
CBSN
Michigan voters could have an opportunity to codify statewide protections on abortion rights and reproductive health care later this year, as a citizen-backed ballot proposal advances in the months leading up to November's midterm elections.
The proposal, titled Reproductive Freedom for All, was first introduced to the public in January and gained momentum through a campaign led by the ACLU of Michigan, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan and the nonprofit organization Michigan Voices.
It calls for an amendment to the state constitution that would safeguard the right to choose to have an abortion, as well as rights to access and use contraception for both temporary and indefinite purposes. The proposal also aims to ensure that everyone who gives birth in Michigan has rights to proper care, and shield people who have miscarriages, stillbirths, and abortions from facing criminal punishment.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.