Right to Life of Michigan has submitted many thousands of petition signatures in an effort to adopt a state law to ban a medical procedure used to terminate pregnancies.

The procedure’s medical name is dilation and evacuation.

Right to Life dropped the petitions off on Monday at the state Bureau of Elections.

Once the petition signatures are certified by a state elections board, the question goes to state lawmakers.

Genevieve Marnon is with Right to Life. She says the group is confident the signatures will be certified by the state Bureau of Elections.

“And then the Legislature has 40 days to act, whether they vote to pass it with simple majorities in both chambers and then it becomes law; or if they ignore it, it goes on the ballot; or if they vote it down it goes on the ballot,” she says.

Marnon says Republican majorities in the House and the Senate have already approved similar bills.

“We have every reason to believe they will take it up for a vote and they will pass it. We introduced bills earlier in the year and it was passed in both chambers with a majority vote, and so we have no reason to believe they won’t do it again,” she says.

Laws adopted by petition initiatives cannot be vetoed by the governor. Abortion rights groups say they will file a legal challenge if the initiative is adopted.

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