The Reproductive Freedom for All proposal would amend Michigan’s constitution to replace a 1931 ban on abortions, which on Wednesday was declared unconstitutional by the state Court of Claims. While that decision prohibits the Attorney General from enforcing the ban, it will remain on the books unless voters approve the Reproductive Freedom for All proposal on Election Day.

The Promote the Vote ballot proposal would make a number of changes to Michigan’s voting rights policy, including allowing election officials to accept third party donations, letting voters join a permanent absentee ballot list and making sure that overseas ballots postmarked before Election Day and received within six days are counted.

The Reproductive Freedom for All proposal has received particular attention due to the amount of people who signed it during its petition stage – over 700,000 signatures were collected from around the state. The proposal was opposed by pro-life interest groups, who argued that formatting errors in the amendment’s text rendered it “gibberish.” 

Lawyers for MI Reproductive Freedom for All countered, saying that the proposal remained comprehensible regardless of font size or spacing between words. 

The court ruled that while the spacing issues in the proposal were present, they did not make it illegible.

Rulings on both cases were posted to the Michigan Supreme Court’s website. Opposition groups to both proposals are expected to begin campaigning against the amendments.