Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vows a veto, while Right to Life Michigan has announced it intends to collect signatures to place the issue before voters.

Two other efforts, meanwhile, focus on what abortion opponents refer to as the fetal heartbeat. A citizen group, the Michigan Heartbeat Coalition, launched a ballot initiative Tuesday to prohibit abortion after the detection of a heartbeat. The measure includes 2-to-4 year prison sentences for providers who violate the ban.

Last week, Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, proposed a bill that would require providers to determine whether fetal heartbeats exist before performing abortions. The bill requires providers to ask patients if they want to hear the heartbeat before moving forward with an abortion.

Few issues are as emotional as abortion. Here’s a look at the numbers and some of the arguments that frame the debate.

What is Dilation and Evacuation?

This procedure is used more often as the pregnancy progresses and the fetus grows. In Michigan in 2017, the outpatient procedure known as D&E was most often provided in the first part of the second semester, between 13 and 20 weeks. In this out-patient procedure, a provider dilates the cervix and uses forceps to remove the fetus in pieces.

The procedure was performed 1,777 times in Michigan in 2017 – roughly half of all second-trimester abortions that year, according to data compiled by the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services.

To abortion opponents, the procedure is "dismemberment abortion,” which they call “barbaric.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said the procedure is safer to the mother in the second trimester than alternatives such as medication-induced abortions or another procedure known as “suction curretage.” That involves using suctioning and scraping instruments to end pregnancies.

An exchange in the Michigan House this month dramatically illustrated the divide.

State Rep. Vanessa Guerra, D-Saginaw, pressed Rep. Pamela Hornberger, R-Chesterfield, about the risks associated with the procedure.

“Is there a concern that, not being a doctor, perhaps you shouldn’t draft legislation that [ties] the hands of medical experience of the doctors who have the medical experience to do such work?” Guerra said.

Hornberger, who sponsored one of the bills, responded: “I’m concerned about children being ripped apart in the womb when there is an alternative method at every stage of pregnancy.”