To the Journal editor:

Don’t let your vote on Proposal 3 be a knee-jerk reaction to how you feel about abortion. Think it through. Read the whole proposal. It’s only 323 words, and far more enlightening than the 95-word ballot summary. Much of the language in the proposal is vague, with loopholes wide enough to fly a jumbo jet through.

Prop. 3 allows anyone, even a rapist, to take someone of any age, even a pre-teen child, in for an abortion. It negates requirements to explain risks and observe a waiting period. It would allow abortions provided by unspecified health care professionals; no requirement for licensed physicians, no requirement for licensed or inspected facilities, no requirement to consult parents.

The constitutional change would give the right to decide on abortion, contraception, and sterilization, including puberty-altering medications and surgeries, directly to individuals, no age specified.

Therefore minors, who may not fully understand the ramifications, will be asked to make their own decisions, and their “autonomous decision-making” can’t be infringed by the state.

A minor could receive sterilization or a same-day abortion, without parents’ knowledge, even if a pregnancy is full-term and birth is imminent. Prop. 3 seems to consider fetal viability, but actually dismisses the consideration by allowing abortion if a “health care professional” judges the procedure would protect the “mental health” of an individual. Mental health is left open to interpretation, and under Michigan law, “health care professional” includes nurses, dentists, physical therapists, chiropractors, optometrists, and others.

Prop. 3 says the state cannot take any adverse action, legal or otherwise, against anyone involved in providing abortion or sterilization, even if they caused serious harm or death to the individual, who could be a minor. It prohibits adverse action against someone aiding an individual of any age who has given “voluntary consent” regarding anything related to reproduction, which includes puberty blockers and gender surgery. Proposal 3 doesn’t protect vulnerable children; it further victimizes them.

Prop. 3 would allow abortions at any stage of pregnancy and removes restrictions on partial-birth abortion. Partial-birth abortion is a horrific procedure that crushes the skull of a baby who can feel pain and is too big to be aborted otherwise. Please read the full proposal and consider the implications before you vote.

Reckless constitutional changes do not bring justice to our state. Vote no on Proposal 3. It’s vague and goes too far. We must remain a civilized society.