At a press conference Wednesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer voiced her opposition to a Michigan constitutional convention, saying passing Proposal 1 would pose a threat to reproductive health freedom—including the right to have an abortion—which is enshrined in the Michigan constitution.
Proposal 1 on the midterm election ballot will ask Michiganders if they would like to hold a constitutional convention. A so-called con-con proposal is automatically put onto the ballot every 16 years, as required by the Michigan constitution.
If voters say "yes" to a con-con, delegates would be elected from each state House and Senate district to draft a new state constitution. Delegates could choose to only change a few details, or to completely rewrite the document.
The newly drafted constitution would then need to be approved by voters in 2027 for it to be implemented.
At the press conference, Whitmer, who only spoke for five minutes and didn't take questions from reporters, criticized Republicans who are in support of calling a con-con, despite the lack of a coordinated effort by the Michigan GOP to undo abortion access via a con-con.
“Their intentions are clear,” Whitmer said. “They don’t want to use this convention to expand rights. They want to use this convention to roll back and undermine women’s reproductive freedom.”
A few prominent Michigan Republicans have voiced support for a con-con, including State House Speaker Matt Hall and State Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt. At the Mackinaw Policy Center's 2025 conference, Michigan Advance reported they both argued that the state constitution could be simplified.
But neither Hall or Nesbitt has vocally supported the idea of using the con-con as a vehicle to try and limit abortion access and Right to Life of Michigan is actively urging voters to vote no on Proposal 1.
Whitmer's comments come a few weeks after John James’s running mate for lieutenant governor, Republican state Rep. Jay DeBoyer, suggested that a constitutional convention could be used to limit access to abortion, the Detroit News reported.
“Sometimes, you have to say to yourself, ‘This might be the only way,’” DeBoyer said in a recording obtained by the Detroit News. “It might be, and I don’t know if I am going to vote yes on it. I’m just giving you the argument that it might be our only way to make some of these modifications.”
When asked to comment on the recording by reporters from the Detroit News, DeBoyer walked back his comments and said, "the abortion issue is settled in Michigan."
The Michigan Republican Party did not immediately respond to WCMU's request for comment on this story.
“Sadly, the Democrats are now using the Constitutional Convention question to wrongly suggest that abortion is on the ballot. Abortion is not on the ballot," Right to Life of Michigan President Amber Roseboom said in a statement on Sept. 17. "The Democrats have more than demonstrated they have no solution to the outsized economic strains their failed leadership has placed on Michigan families. If they care about the future of Michigan, it’s high time they focus on that,” Roseboom continued.
Protect MI Constitution from Special Interests, a collective of 60 members comprising of unions, business associations and voter rights groups, are actively pushing for Michiganders to vote down Proposal 1. Former Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette is one of the most prominent critics of the proposal and has been actively campaigning to raise awareness about the potential con-con, arguing it would a "circus."
Michigan voters passed a constitutional amendment by a 56.6% majority in 2022 that established an individual’s right to make decisions regarding pregnancy and abortion, following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe V. Wade.
The Roe V. Wade decision turned the question of abortion access to the states. Since then, 20 states have enacted abortion restrictions, with 13 states having full bans on abortion throughout the entirety of a pregnancy.
Whitmer argued Wednesday that ballot initiatives are already an available means to amend the state constitution. She said a convention could undo amendments that voters have implemented.
“It is an attempt to undo the will of the people,” Whitmer said.
Whitmer was joined in the press conference by Planned Parenthood of Michigan President Paula Thornton Greear, Michigan Voices Executive Director Sommer Foster, ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Loren Khogali, and the Michigan Campaign for Reproductive Freedom For All Director Shanay Watson-Whittaker.
Greear said Michigan is a place people around the U.S. often travel to for abortion access.
“If that right goes away, it goes away for Michiganders, and it goes away for anyone who has to travel here because their own state has banned it,” Greear said.
Since Michigan's constitution was ratified in 1963, all three previous con-con proposals have failed by wide margins. But recent polling from the Detroit News and WDIV found nearly half of likely voters would support this year’s con-con proposal.
