S.B. 164 – Sen. Patrick Colbeck
Current Status
S.B. 164 was introduced on February 15, 2017, and referred to the Senate Oversight Committee.
Description
P.A. 499 of 2012 – the Pro-Life Omnibus Law – requires that abortion clinics that publicly advertise and perform at least 120 abortions per year must be licensed as a free-standing outpatient surgical facility. Currently, clinics are allowed to remain open while working to become compliant with the heath and safety standards required under the law. S.B. 164 will reverse the standard and require that clinics will be closed and will not have their licenses renewed until they are compliant with the law.
History
It took almost three years after the passage of the 2012 clinic licensing law for the last of Michigan’s remaining abortion clinics to pass inspections and become licensed. However, the inspectors often five clinics a list of thing that must be done in order to bring a clinic into compliance and give those clinics several weeks and several chances to meet those requirements while allowing them to remain open for business. Unfortunately, some abortion clinic operators have learned how to play “cat and mouse” with the inspectors and put off necessary repairs, updates and health standards.
Background
The clinic licensing law has worked to put the worst of Michigan’s abortion clinics out of business. The 17 surgical abortion clinics that remain open in the state have had to submit to inspectors by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and have to comply with the standards of a Free Standing Outpatient Surgical Facility. Those standards protect the health and safety of women who regrettably seek abortion services. In order to prevent clinics from slipping through the cracks and allowing violations of the health and safety standards, requiring clinics to close until they are compliant seems a better practice than allowing them to remain open in violation of those standards even while working to become compliant.
History
Over the years, stories of deplorable conditions at some abortion clinics have made headlines. The “House of Horrors” operated by Kermit Gosnell in Pennsylvania is one example. Another is the now closed clinic in Muskegon, Michigan. With common sense legislation, these kinds of deplorable conditions will never again occur in the state.