PONTIAC, Mich. — An Oakland County Circuit judge said he will rule Friday morning on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s request for a preliminary injunction against letting county prosecutors bring charges in abortion cases under Michigan's 1931 law.
Judge Jacob Cunningham has heard from five medical professionals and lawyers from both sides of the argument over two days on whether a preliminary injunction is needed to stop county prosecutors from enforcing a 1931 law banning abortion in all but cases in which the pregnant woman’s life is in jeopardy.
Whitmer obtained a temporary restraining order after a Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled a state judge's preliminary injunction against Michigan's 1931 law applied to Michigan Attorney General General Dana Nessel but not to county prosecutors. Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher's injunction was issued in a Planned Parent lawsuit following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision.
Three witnesses testified in a contentious hearing Thursday, one for Nessel's office and two called by attorney David Kallman, who is representing two Republican county prosecutors. Much of the questioning came in efforts to discredit or defend defense witness Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a retired Bowling Green University developmental psychologist who has written extensively about how abortion affects the mental health of women, and Dr. Gianina Cazan-London, an OB-GYN.
Coleman, who has been certified as an expert in 14 abortion-related litigation cases, has an international reputation for studies she has done that have found a higher level of risk for women who have abortions.
“There is an above average increase in mental health problems — as much as 81% — for woman who have abortions,” Coleman told Cunningham on Thursday.
Coleman said in her research and studies over the past 20 years she has found mental health problems including anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, social and behavioral problems including abuse of alcohol and drugs, among women who have had abortion. She speculated that the higher incidence of mental health problems may be related to women, 59% of them pro-life, having “gone against their belief system.”
Under cross-examination by Jonathan Miller, an attorney representing Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, Coleman said she was compensated at $250 an hour for her expertise in litigation and trial, including travel expenses.
Under quizzing by Miller, Coleman said she was “in support of abortion restrictions” and insisted her research has never been discredited. She argued she has been criticized by colleagues and the news media because her findings are “not always politically correct.” She said she frequently has published studies that run counter to other research she believes is biased.
“I get criticized by some, but I don’t take it personally, I take it as a compliment,” Coleman said.
The other defense witness, Cazan-London, described herself as an OB-GYN who specializes in high risk consultation and maternal field medicine. She said she performed one abortion as an university fellow but was so sickened by the experience that she said she would never do another.
Cazan-London said she counseled pregnant women on their options, including abortion, and made referrals where needed. She said she encouraged women to enjoy their pregnancies, despite any abnormalities that might occur or be detected by ultrasound or other traditional medical measures.
Attorney Melvin Butch Hollowell, representing Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, aggressively cross-examined Cazan-London regarding whether she would provide an abortion for several cases in which women had been raped or was a victim of incest. Cazan-London repeatedly responded “no.”
Hollowell also brought up examples in which Cazan-London’s credibility was called into question. He noted how she appeared on a March 2021 Christian-based radio program and said she had been “brainwashed” regarding abortions in the past and how she was now being “used to get a message out.”
In April 2021, one of her former employers, Sparrow Hospital in mid-Michigan, repudiated her claims of expertise in pregnancy issues and described her “as a part-time physician with no leadership roles and was not a medical expert.”
Cazan-London also appeared at two public meetings during the pandemic to voice objections: a Howell Board of Education meeting where she spoke out against masking policies and proposed bringing in a carbon dioxide machine to show how masks were ineffectual. She also spoke out at a Livingston County Board of Commissioners meeting where she asked officials to forgo social distancing in favor of both in-person and remote meetings.
When Kallman asked Cazan-London if she believed she had a right to voice her opinions in public, she replied “yes.”
In closing remarks Thursday, Michigan Deputy Attorney General Christina Grossi implored Cunningham to consider how “abortion is critical health care for women of reproductive age.” There are 2 million in Michigan, she noted.
Grossi also asked Cunningham to balance the credibility of witness testimony and how women in the state are “upset and angry.”
“They woke up one day in June 2022 and found they were relegated to the status of second-class citizens,” said Grossi, referring to the Supreme Court action.
“All we are asking is that you preserve the status quo.”
Kallman disagreed, saying Whitmer and others are trying to “write new law, not enforce existing law.”
“All of this sounds like something you would hear in a House committee meeting, not in a court of law,” said Kallman. “What they are talking about are policy issues. There is a big difference between that and enforcing the law.
“Right to abortion is not a fundamental right nor is it a right at all,”Kallman said..
If Cunningham declines to issue a preliminary injunction, the temporary restraining order would be lifted and prosecutors would be free to follow the 1931 law.
If he issues a preliminary injunction, it will mean abortion will likely remain legal in Michigan until the case is fully resolved. The Michigan Supreme Court has declined to expedite Whitmer's abortion lawsuit in the Oakland court or Planned Parenthood's suit in the Court of Claims.
