Republicans to OI: This isn't the time to make abortion an issue

OTTAWA COUNTY — An anticipated anti-abortion resolution approved by the Ottawa County Board on Tuesday was altered last minute to remove controversial prohibitions on resources, leaving the motion largely toothless and pointless, officials said.

The resolution aimed at "promoting life" was originally written with language that would have prevented county employees and funds from providing "for an abortion, including the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device, to intentionally kill an unborn child."

It also said "(no) county staff or resources shall be allocated for transportation to abortion providers for the purpose of obtaining an abortion."

The measure was championed by the far-right Ottawa Impact majority on the board that came into power in January 2023. The group, fueled by fundamentalist ideology and frustrations over pandemic-era mitigation measures in 2020, currently holds seven seats on the 11-member board and has made a series of controversial decisions leading to five lawsuits and a brief investigation from the Michigan Attorney General's Office.

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Commissioner Roger Bergman is one of three non-OI Republicans on the board. He's frustrated by the insistence on discussing issues that aren't appropriate at the county level.

"Today, we are being asked to vote on a resolution which will, once again, have a divisive effect on citizens in our county," he said Tuesday. "This resolution had no business being on our agenda."

"At what point do we begin to consider the potential legal costs that this action may cost the county?" he said. "Some on this board have already cost the citizens over three-quarters of a million dollars. When do you stop the foolishness, spending citizens' dollars and employee trust? This needs to stop."

A revised draft provided to commissioners shortly before the meeting removed the language that would have restricted staff and resources.

Even so, Bergman said, if the board's majority doesn't agree with current abortion policy in Michigan, the conversation to influence change is better served at the state and federal levels.

The comment was in reference to the passage of Proposal 3 in 2022, a citizen-initiated measure enshrined in the Michigan constitution that codified reproductive rights, including access to abortion.

"I am pro-life, but that doesn’t mean I can go against the oath I took," Bergman said. "I, along with all of my fellow commissioners, have sworn an oath to uphold the laws of the federal as well as state government. If we want those laws changed, we need to reach out to our representatives who set those laws."

Commissioner Doug Zylstra, the board's lone Democrat, echoed Bergman.

"I voted no on the resolution because I believe, when we speak as a board, we should seek to reflect and unite our community and not to create further division," Zylstra wrote on social media after the meeting. "Our community has strong and diverse opinions on this matter, and I do not believe it is our role as a board to attempt to split the community in this way."

The OI commissioners, undeterred by their colleagues' comments, moved forward.

"All of you are precious and made in the image of God," said OI Commissioner Allison Miedema.

"Children are our greatest treasure," said OI Commissioner and Board Chair Joe Moss.

The disconnect between the majority and minority was reminiscent of the 2023 budget process, which nearly saw drastic cuts to family planning that could've encouraged abortion providers to open up shop in Ottawa County.

Health Officer Adeline Hambley warned if OI commissioners decreased minimal funding levels for family planning or stopped providing services altogether, it could strip local control over providers.

That's because the health department receives federal Title X funding (as a sub-recipient of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) to provide services related to contraception and family planning.

Norm Hess, executive director of the Michigan Association for Local Public Health, or MALPH, previously told The Sentinel the county’s three sites — Holland, Hudsonville and Grand Haven — must provide a broad range of medically approved services, including all FDA-approved contraceptive products and natural family planning methods.

"Because there are no other Title X providers, if ours was gone, there would be no other providers in Allegan and Ottawa or Muskegon — there's a chance that would mean a new Planned Parenthood provider in Ottawa County," Hambley said. "Because they have rules around the population radius ... so people don't have to travel too far for those services.

"So in that case, they could be the first Ottawa County Board in the history of Ottawa County to have Planned Parenthood open (up) here."

That was a scenario untenable for Right to Life Michigan. The group helped draft a letter to commissioners in early September urging them to restore funding to avoid abortion providers moving in.

The letter was distributed to the board by Commissioner Jacob Bonnema, a non-OI Republican who represents the Fourth District. Bonnema did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

"Based on emails I have received from our county health department director, it appears MDHHS, in anticipation of our budgetary cuts, has already reached out to Planned Parenthood to solicit them to open shop in Ottawa County for the purposes of providing Title X family planning services," the email read.

"If that is allowed to happen, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s No. 1 abortion provider, will have a foothold in our community and will begin providing abortions along with their family planning program.

"I encourage you to appropriate the necessary funding in the budget to provide the necessary matching funds to the county health department and maintain their eligibility to receive the Title X grant, thereby keeping Planned Parenthood out of Ottawa County and protecting innocent lives."

Right to Life Michigan PAC Director Emily Kroll did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Pete Hoekstra, a former congressman for the Holland area and the current chair of the Michigan GOP, attended Tuesday's board meeting.

He said making abortion a talking point at the county level didn't accomplish what the pro-life movement ultimately wants to achieve.

"The Michigan GOP is in total alignment with where the Trump campaign is on Roe v. Wade, moving this back to being a state issue," he told The Sentinel after the meeting. "There is nothing dealing with abortion on the ballot in 2024. We are focusing on things like the economy, the pain that Michigan families find themselves in with inflation, the threat to our automobile industry by the proposed Biden and Whitmer agenda, and the lack of border security."

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He said the pro-life movement needs to be strategic in the wake of the passage of Prop 3.

"This moved down to a states' rights issue and Michigan voters expressed their opinion in 2022. And it's not on the ballot in 2024," he said. "And pro-life folks have to redouble their efforts in terms of working with young women and couples that are facing this choice and present alternatives to abortion."

Brian Burch, co-founder of Friends of West Michigan GOP, agreed with Hoekstra.

"As conservatives, we believe life must be protected from conception through natural death, but the Ottawa Impact resolution on April 23 was an unvetted, non-binding, pandering piece of legislation cosplay," Birch wrote in an email to The Sentinel.

"If Ottawa Impact cared about protecting unborn children, they would ensure the Health Department Title X is properly funded, and work with our local nonprofits to ensure pregnant mothers receive the support they need from conception through natural birth."

— Sarah Leach is executive editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter@SentinelLeach.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Republicans to OI: This isn't the time to make abortion an issue