The First Casualty of the Fay Beydoun Scandal? Planned Parenthood
Whitmer won't give them money to keep operating, which suggests that abortion doesn't really matter anymore
Livonia — Gov. Whitmer refused an emergency request by Planned Parenthood of Michigan for $5 million last week, telling them to go find the money elsewhere. The retaliation by Lansing Democrats was swift, led by State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky.
Pohutsky, a strong advocate for Planned Parenthood, exploded in anger.
“You can’t say you’re going to fight like hell and then not do the bare minimum when they’re in need,” she told The Detroit News.
Two prominent Democrats fighting? Heavens to Murgatroyd, this must be of dire importance!
Let’s back up a bit.
The Dobbs decision in 2022 was once seen as the best gift the Michigan Democrat Party could have ever hoped for as they sought to reinforce their power in a battleground state that has turned bluer over the last decade.
Permanently settled as a states-rights issue, and already settled in the eyes of average voters who don’t really consider it worthy of discussion, Dobbs was initially celebrated like a Stanley Cup win by conservative voters.
In reality, Dobbs shelved the one motivating issue for social conservative voters and activated high-propensity female voters in the suburbs.
Average Michigan voters shrugged as all this was unfolding. “Who the f*** even talks about abortion anymore?” asked one Livonia resident during the 2022 midterms. “I can’t even remember the last time I even heard it mentioned.”
But in the wake of Dobbs, Gov. Whitmer—the strongest Planned Parenthood advocate to live in the governor’s mansion—vowed to “Fight Like Hell” to secure reproductive rights in Michigan. The Democrats took total control of the Michigan Legislature by flipping several Republican districts, and Planned Parenthood, swimming in funding and cash rich, expanded across the state.
The issue was further settled by the Michigan Prop 3 ballot measure passing in 2022 and codifying abortion access. Smooth sailing for Planned Parenthood, then? Not so fast.
First of all, using abortion as a political weapon to fire up the college-educated women doesn’t really work for voters under 40 who are already committed to family planning and want kids.
Second, nobody is f***ing right now. Young women lament that men won’t approach them, and young men lack confidence. You need to have sex to construct a landscape where an abortion might be needed, and the birth rate is dwindling for a reason.
Third, the same week Planned Parenthood of Michigan was begging for change, statistics dropped indicating Michigan is in its fifth straight year of “natural decrease,” meaning that the state’s deaths outnumber its births. Our state is aging out, and women of child-bearing age have crept into middle age, further accelerating the decline.
This all creates interesting irony for Michigan Democrats who, in the absence of ideas other than online resistance to President Donald Trump, need to reach for the cultural fights of yesterday.
Which brings us back to Rep. Laura Pohutsky. Why is she specifically pissed off about this?
Pohutsky, you might recall, famously sterilized herself rather than have children in “Trump’s America” and held a press conference to tell everyone about it. That was weird. But she represents an aging city. Livonia’s average age is 47. The problem in her city isn’t too many unwanted children, but a lack of them.
The reality is suburban Livonia women Pohutsky’s age or younger don’t give a shit about abortion. If they’re single with no children, they have far bigger problems than a fight over reproductive rights. They’re down at the One Under trying to find a man or scrolling some dating site looking for a guy who doesn’t smoke weed all day.
Meanwhile, the very city Pohutsky represents is grappling with the problem of an aging police department building and looking for additional funding sources before breaking ground.
And what has Pohutsky done to assist in that initiative? Not a damn thing. In fact, less than nothing, given her known dislike for the Livonia police.
To be fair, Pohutsky doesn’t have a lot to work with in Lansing. Legislative grants are under intense scrutiny due to the Fay Beydoun scandal currently ripping a hole through the governor’s office.
Planned Parenthood of Michigan CEO Paula Thornton Greear displayed incredible gall by even asking Whitmer to use executive powers to divert funding from the Department of Health and Human Services when other special interest groups have been buying $4,500 coffee makers on the taxpayer’s dime.
Setting aside the boldness of such an ask, wasn’t Planned Parenthood wiping its ass with $100 bills only two years ago? Has President Donald Trump’s cutting of federal aid—previously dismissed by Planned Parenthood as but a small fraction of their overall funding—caused their current financial distress?
I don’t buy that Planned Parenthood can’t make money in a state where access to abortion is absolute. No, I think the world has changed. Planned Parenthood, like abortion itself, has become irrelevant.
We have a pro-choice Republican president, a Democrat governor who won’t help Planned Parenthood, and I haven’t seen a pro-life rally in Livonia in years. What else do you need to know?
