The initiative makes no exceptions for women who have become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. The debate began after 315,477 Michigan voters signed a Right to Life petition.

In her No-Vote explanation Wednesday, Whitmer testified that she was a rape victim more than 20 years ago. The incident occurred when she was a student at MSU, a spokesman told The State News.

“I was a victim of rape, and thank God it didn’t result in a pregnancy,” Whitmer said in her floor speech. “Because I can’t imagine going through what I went through and then having to consider what to do about an unwanted pregnancy…from an attacker.”

Whitmer went on to say that the voters who signed the petition reflect only 4 percent of the state’s population, and polling shows only a third of Michiganders support the initiative.

“This tells women that were raped and became pregnant that they should have thought ahead and bought special insurance for it,” Whitmer said. “I’m not the only woman in our state who has faced that horrible circumstance.

“It’s something I’ve hidden for a long time. But I think you need to see the face of the women that you are impacting by this vote today. I think you need to think of the girls that we are raising and what kind of a state we want to be where you would put your approval on something this extreme,” she said.

Senator Rebekah Warren, D – Ann Arbor, said in a statement that the abortion rider may not even be a choice for women in the long run.

“To even claim that women will have the option of abortion insurance under this initiative is deceitful,” Warren said. “Michigan is not the first state to take action on this issue; seven other states have already enacted this legislation. In five of these seven states, purchasing an abortion rider is not even an available option.”

The law will go into effect 90 days after the Michigan Legislature adjourns.