Michigan voters will choose on Nov. 8 whether women have a right to choose

While there's very little public discussion of abortion in northern Ontario, the debate is heading to the ballot box this fall next door in Michigan. 

A referendum question known as Proposal 3 being put to voters on Nov. 8 would enshrine reproductive rights, including abortion and contraception, in the state constitution.

It's meant to clear up the uncertainty left after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling three months ago.

The voicemail at the only abortion clinic on Michigan's Upper Peninsula informs callers that "abortion is still legal in the state of Michigan."

But that clinic in Marquette is a long drive from the border town of Sault Ste. Marie, so when Natalie Olstrom needed to terminate a pregnancy two years ago, she drove to southern Michigan instead.

She and her fiancé have been trying to have children for a while, but after suffering through several miscarriages, she decided to have weight-loss surgery to help improve her chances of carrying a child to term. She became pregnant while waiting for the operation. 

"So I was stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Olstrom, now 23.

"Just a lot of internal battles with myself, if this is the right decision. Kind of looking up and saying, 'Give me a sign if I shouldn't do this,' but nothing happened, so I just arrived and went through with it."

Olstrom says this is a personal issue for her, because her parents couldn't achieve pregnancy naturally and then adopted her, and they are both devout Catholics, so she feared they would "never talk to me again."

"They actually told me they were really sorry that I had to go through with that and mentally battle it alone with my fiancé because they would have been part of that conversation," she said, "which was a real shock to me, because my whole life it's been the opposite, but I guess when it's happening to someone that they love."

Olstrom, who told her story during a pro-choice rally in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., this summer, will help to get the vote out for the referendum, but won't try to convince her mom and dad.

"I know my family is all very against it. We just don't bring up politics any more. I do get a little bit heated," she said. 

"I think they're going to vote for the ban. I really do. But obviously I can only hope that they vote in favour of women's rights."

Phillip Becker, president of the Chippewa County Right to Life Association, will be campaigning for the no side in Sault Ste. Marie, where according to state figures, 37 women underwent an abortion last year. 

He says there is a "potential for conflict" during the campaign, but "in small communities, friendships do prevail."

"But in my mind, there's no reason to worry. God is in control. And whichever way this goes, it's his plan," says Becker.

"We prayed, but I did not believe it would ever be overturned. So I believe this is an act of God. Where he's going to take us from now, I don't know."

Sara Maurer helped collect thousands of signatures across the traditionally conservative Upper Peninsula on the petition that helped get the question on the ballot.

However, the referendum was in question a few weeks ago, after Republicans on the state board that certifies ballot initiatives rejected the Reproductive Freedom for All proposal, partly because there were too many spaces between some of the words on the application documents. They were later overruled by the state Supreme Court. 

"I don't think it's a Republican or Democratic issue at all," said Maurer. 

"So much of my family is right-leaning and the majority signed it anyway."

Maurer is now trying to get out the vote for the Nov. 8 referendum and hopes the public conversation stays respectful.

"You can discuss it all you want, but go vote." 

A ban on abortion in Michigan would mean even less access for Indigenous people on the Upper Peninsula.

They receive health care through a federal program called the Indian Health Service, but under what's known in the U.S. as the "Hyde Amendment," it's illegal to use federal tax dollars to pay for abortion, except in the case of rape, incest or if the mother's health is at risk.

"I was very disturbed. Because now the policies are moving back in time," says tribe member Nichole Causley.

She says of the 40,000 citizens of the Sault Tribe, some 14,000 who live on the Upper Peninsula, there are many like her who see abortion rights as fitting with their ancient traditions, while many others who follow Catholic teachings instead do not.  

"I think many will just quietly support women's choice and there will some who will be loudly against it," Causley says.