MARQUETTE — A national group and seven county prosecutors in Michigan have filed a brief urging the Michigan Supreme Court to declare that the state constitution protects the right to an abortion and the criminal statute is unconstitutional.

Along with Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese, the other prosecutors come from Oakland, Wayne, Ingham, Washtenaw, Kalamazoo and Genesee counties.

“I signed onto the brief filed with the Michigan Supreme Court as I do not oppose the relief requested by Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer,” Wiese said in an email.

The Public Rights Project, based in Oakland, California, is a national organization that works with local, state and tribal governments across the U.S. to equitably enforce laws that protect people’s civil and human rights, including reproductive rights.

Madison Jacobs, PRP chief marketing and communications officer, said in an email that the organization became involved in the case through Eli Savit, the prosecutor in Washtenaw County, who is one of its government partners in the U.S. and who retained the group as outside counsel for the lawsuit.

Jacobs said PRP worked on behalf of Savit and six other prosecuting attorneys, joining Whitmer in her request for the Michigan Supreme Court to decide if the state constitution protects the right to an abortion and to review Michigan’s criminal abortion statute, MCL 750.14.

“Due to the near-certain change to abortion rights with the Supreme Court’s current review of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Michiganders face the likelihood that the criminal abortion statute will soon be operative law,” she said. “Health care providers and the entire legal system face mounting uncertainty regarding the right of abortion in Michigan.”

The brief asks that the Michigan Supreme Court address this urgent need and affirm the right to an abortion under state law, she said.

The brief indicates that the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, a case in which the court is reconsidering the viability standard announced in the landmark Roe v. Wade case in 1973 and upheld in Planned Parenthood of Se. Pennsylvania v. Casey in 1992.

It is expected that the U.S. Supreme Court will affirm Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, the brief said.

Also acknowledged in the brief was the fact that a draft majority opinion was recently leaked and publicly disseminated by Politico. The opinion indicates that five votes on the U.S. Supreme Court signify a willingness to overturn the Roe and Casey decisions.

“Recognizing the uncertainty that the impending Dobbs decision creates for Michiganders, and the dire consequences of inaction, Gov. Whitmer filed the instant case to solidify the right to an abortion under the Michigan Constitution,” the brief reads.

“Respondents Prosecuting Attorneys, who are named as defendants in their official capacities in this action because of their role in enforcing the state’s criminal laws, join the Governor in her request for the Michigan Supreme Court’s review.”

The brief stressed that the Michigan Supreme Court is not being asked to intervene to define a new right never protected by the U.S. or Michigan constitutions.

“Rather, this Court is being asked to respond to an unprecedented occurrence in American jurisprudence — the elimination (or significant weakening) of settled law which takes away a clearly established and fundamental right from the people,” it reads.

“It is a right that is both fundamental and critical to the personal autonomy and equality of all Michiganders. Such a moment demands this Court’s intervention.”

David Kallman, an attorney from the Great Lakes Justice Center who represents the defense in the case, said, “It really doesn’t refute anything we’ve said in our brief.”

That brief, he said, seeks to dismiss the case.

Kallman said Whitmer has no standing to bring up the case, and is “making up” a lawsuit.

“There’s nothing here to take to court,” said Kallman, who pointed out nothing has happened yet.

He likened the case to an individual who was suing a neighbor who said they would run over their mailbox before the offense had occurred.

“That’s essentially what the governor is doing,” Kallman said.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.