The state Senate Majority Leader is under fire for comments he made about abortion on a radio show.
Senator Mike Shirkey was asked about a package of bills introduced by Democrats and supported by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The bills would expand access to abortion.
Shirkey said allowing abortion is comparable to quote: “the scourge that we endured when we still had slavery in this country.”
Democratic Senator Erica Geiss is African American. She says a procedure involving a woman’s body is in no way comparable to the horrors of slavery.
“I think it is incredibly out of touch for him to have made such incredibly insensitive remarks.”
A spokeswoman for Shirkey later clarified that Shirkey was specifically referring to how divisive the issue is.