Whitmer: Want to protect Michigan abortion rights? Re-elect Joe Biden. | Opinion

TIME: “Do you think states should monitor women's pregnancies so they can know if they've gotten an abortion after the ban?

Donald Trump: "I think they might do that.”

I read these chilling words from Donald Trump’s TIME interview just before a meeting with women and doctors in Flint. We had stepped into a bookstore together for a conversation we thought would be focused on abortion bans across the country. Florida’s six-week ban, which means abortions are banned before many women even know they are pregnant, would go into effect that same day. But as Stephanie, Harsna, Jessica and I took our seats, we found ourselves unpacking the reality that Donald Trump was, according to his interview, leaving the door open for states to track women’s periods and pregnancies, and prosecute women who have an abortion.

The women around the table told me how much it meant to them that here in Michigan, reproductive freedom is protected. But, I have to be honest, the thing going through my mind was: If Donald Trump wins again, I can’t prevent all the protections we fought so hard for in Michigan from being erased.

Let me explain.

Michiganders wasted no time after Roe fell: We amended our constitution to guarantee the right to abortion. I worked with the state legislature to remove medically unnecessary, politically motivated restrictions on abortion from state law. And since then, I’ve directed my administration to explore every option to protect access to surrogacy and IVF so Michiganders can grow their families. I am relieved and proud that Michigan was able to put in place strong protections to keep reproductive decisions in the hands of women and the people they trust. Progress like this in a purple state is unprecedented.

But Donald Trump and the right-wing groups who support him want to hit the ground running with policies that would put Michigan’s protections in jeopardy. They want to allow the government to invade women’s privacy and monitor their pregnancies, restrict access to IVF and contraception, and outlaw the distribution of abortion pills. And their North Star, a national abortion ban, could effectively cancel out Michigan’s constitutional protections.

Donald Trump is hearing the outcry from voters from Florida to Alabama to Arizona and Michigan loud and clear. That’s why he’s trying to hide his anti-abortion record and plans. He’s betting voters will buy what he’s selling without looking too closely.

But I know voters — especially Michigan voters — are smart. They are women like Stephanie, Harsna and Jessica. And what they’ll see as they go vote is alarming.

They’ll see that Donald Trump is the reason women are having to wait until they go into sepsis for lifesaving abortion care. He’s the reason states have enacted policies that threaten medical providers with jail time. He’s the reason that in Florida, abortion is not only banned before many women even know they are pregnant, but survivors of rape can only get an abortion if they can provide documentation to prove it. He’s the reason women in Arizona woke up to the news this spring that they were living under an abortion ban from 1864.

Fight for abortion access in Michigan will never be over. Here's what we can do

They see what Donald Trump is really for. But, I know they won’t let him get away with it.

Regardless of how he tries to dance around it leading up to Election Day, we know exactly where Donald Trump stands on abortion. It’s playing out all across the country.

We know where President Biden stands, too: with women, guided by a firm belief that politicians shouldn’t get to make these personal, private decisions. And if we want Michigan’s protections to stay in place, we need Joe Biden back in the White House.

I’m a mom of two wonderful daughters who are growing up with fewer rights than I had at their age. I myself have lived my entire adult life with the constitutional right to abortion. It’s easy to give in to a feeling that this will take a long time to reverse. But it doesn’t have to, if Michigan shows Donald Trump and extreme Republicans exactly what we think of them taking away our rights.

We know this race is going to be close, and we know the path to the White House runs through Michigan. Follow the leadership of the women I met with in Flint, or the women who passed our ballot measure to protect reproductive freedom, or the women who made their voices heard at the historic Women’s March. Get involved, doorknock, and most importantly, make sure your friends and family vote. Our freedoms depend on it, here in Michigan and everywhere else.

I’ll fight like hell, too.

Gretchen Whitmer is the governor of Michigan. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online or in print.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Abortion in Michigan needs to be protected. Re-elect Joe Biden