Anti-abortion groups allege 60 errors in Michigan proposal

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — An anti-abortion coalition in Michigan filed a challenge Thursday against a potential ballot initiative that seeks to enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution, claiming that 60 errors in the proposed amendment should disqualify it from the November ballot.

The alleged 60 errors deal with spacing and result in “strings of gibberish,” making the amendment “impossible to understand,” the coalition said in a statement. Errors identified by the group include, “DECISIONSABOUTALLMATTERSRELATINGTOPREGNANCY,” and “POSTPARTUMCARE.”

“Some people would say, ‘Oh, they’re just spaces,’ but amending the constitution is pretty serious business and the correct number of typos to put in your constitution is zero,” Christen Pollo, a spokeswoman for Citizens to Support MI Women and Children, told The Associated Press.

But Richard Primus, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Michigan Law School, said he believes the amendment’s language could be cleaned up and that typographical problems wouldn’t cause legal issues. “There’s no reason to think that anyone didn’t understand what the petition was saying,” Primus said. “There have been typographical problems with things drafted for constitutions as long as there have been constitutions in the United States.”… (Excerpt from the AP)