Democrat Michigan Gov. Whitmer Demands Biden Make Birth Control Available Without Prescription

Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is pressuring Joe Biden to instruct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make prescription birth control available over the counter. This is part of the multi-pronged campaign Whitmer has launched following the reversal of Roe v. Wade to ensure abortion on demand continues in the United States.

“We all need to get creative and use every tool in our toolbox to protect reproductive freedom in Michigan and across the United States,” Whitmer said in a statement released by her office Monday. “Today, I sent a letter to President Biden urging federal action to make birth control available over the counter, without a prescription.”

“Getting this done would knock down the most costly, time-consuming barrier to obtaining birth control,” Whitmer said. “In the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, we must pull out all the stops to make it easier and more affordable for everyone to secure contraception and take bold steps to protect women by ensuring that health—not politics—guides medical decisions.” 

“Let’s work together so women have control over their own bodies,” Whitmer said.

The press release from Whitmer’s office said, “the continued prescription requirement endangers the reproductive freedom of millions of people, including 2.2 million Michigan women of reproductive age.”

Whitmer’s statistics did not include those on a state government website about how many unborn children were aborted in Michigan recently. 30,074 induced abortions were reported in Michigan in 2021, which is a 1.4 percent increase from the 29,669 reported in 2020.

Whitmer boasted in the release about her efforts to make sure abortion, which is restricted in Michigan, according to the Guttmacher Institute, continues.

Her efforts, she said, include filing a lawsuit asking the Michigan Supreme Court to seek abortion protection from the state’s constitution:

Instructing state of Michigan departments and agencies to identify and assess opportunities to increase protections for reproductive healthcare, such as contraception. The executive directive also instructs departments not to cooperate with or assist authorities of any state in any investigation or proceeding against anyone for obtaining, providing, or assisting someone else to obtain or provide reproductive healthcare that is legal where the health care is provided.

Whitmer also asked the federal government to make sure Michigan residents can cross the border into Canada to get an abortion.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.