Just two weeks ago we raised our voices all the way from the State House with Governor Whitmer’s “Celebrate Babies Week 2022 Proclamation,” to the celebratory events and activities of our chapters and partners throughout the state of Michigan. We’ve also worked in these last few months with our state-level partners to use the candidate forums as a place to raise issues affecting very young children and families and the systems that support them, such as mental health access, equitable prenatal care, reproductive rights, and quality early childhood education. With Election Day upon us in just 4 days on November 8, 2022, the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) believes in not only raising our voices for babies and families by turning out to vote, but in also being informed as to the important issues facing both voters and the IECMH community in the upcoming election.
There are many important issues related to IECMH that will be impacted by this year’s election, but we have repeatedly seen that the area of reproductive rights specifically raises questions and grounds for misunderstanding. With this in mind, we have created space to reflect on this as a team, with members comprised of differing histories and beliefs, and made intentional steps to speak to this issue. As you likely are aware, this past June, the U.S. Supreme Court removed the federal right to a safe and legal abortion through Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, thereby returning the question of reproductive rights back to individual states. In the state of Michigan, there is a 91-year-old law from 1931 that prohibits all abortions except to preserve the mother’s life. In response to the federal ruling, the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health (MCMCH) issued a public statement this summer in which they stated, we “commit to advance and defend public policy that ensures equitable access to every Michigander to any type of reproductive health service.”
After careful consideration, in September, MI-AIMH’s Executive Committee and Board endorsed MCMCH’s statement and reminded MI-AIMH members that supporting open discussion and access to such services continues to remain part of the ethical practice to which we firmly adhere (linked statement by the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health {MCMCH}) . In our own statement, we also offered stories and experiences about what this decision means for real-life Michigan families. As a response to the IECMH community in our state expressing a desire to better understand this issue, we are working to develop continuing educational opportunities that offer both training around reproductive health from accurate medical and ethical perspectives and space to reflect on how we might individually integrate the information presented into our own personal ethical practices. Again, reproductive rights is only one area relevant to our upcoming election, but given the space this one area fills, we wanted to carry the same safe and transparent voice we carry with us when working with families, and speak clearly regarding MI-AIMH’s own continued response to this issue and of its importance to ethical practice.
We will all have the opportunity to exercise our civic engagement skills by going to the polls and voting in the general election. Whether you’re voting in person or by absentee ballot, please make your voices heard and encourage everyone you know of voting age to do the same. MI-AIMH believes in being informed and engaged as we go to the polls and raise our voices in support of babies, toddlers, and families. Now is the time for us to use our collective power to secure the best future for our youngest children.
Sincerely,
Kimberly P. Diamond-Berry, PhD, IECMH-E®
Executive Director
and
MI-AIMH Social Action Committee
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