Read the complete 2026-11-01 briefing
Mike Rogers’ pro-life record is a credential, not a scandal
Days before Michigan’s Senate election, Rogers’s pro-life record puts the stakes for families and Democrats’ attack on it before voters.
Mike Rogers gave pro-life Michigan families the answer they should want from a senator. Days before the Nov. 3 election, the Republican told evangelical voters they “don’t even have to think about it twice,” the Detroit Metro Times reported on Oct. 31.
The paper called it bragging1. Since when is a straight answer a scandal?
“don’t even have to think about it twice”
His record matches his answer
During his House service from 2001 to 2015, NARAL Pro-Choice America’s scorecards consistently placed Rogers against its abortion-rights agenda, according to The Michigan Independent. He co-sponsored legislation in 2003 and 2005 to pull the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, the abortion drug2.
He co-sponsored the Right to Life Act in 2009 and the Life at Conception Act in 2013, which defined human life as beginning at fertilization, Bridge Michigan reports. In 2013 he voted for a national limit on abortion after 20 weeks, with an exception for the mother’s life3.
He did not flinch in March 2023 on Michigan Public Television’s “Off the Record”: “I’m a pro-life guy, I’ve voted pro-life, and I don’t walk away from that.”2 That is the record he told evangelical voters to check, and it backs up every word of his answer.
Michigan voters made abortion a state issue
Michigan settled its own abortion law at the ballot box. The Michigan Independent reports that Michigan voters approved Proposal 3 in 2022, adding abortion and contraception protections to the state constitution by a 57%-43% vote. Rogers said he would not have supported it3.
He has also said a Senate seat will not be used to overturn it: “In the Senate, I won’t do anything to change it,” his September 2024 ad said. In 2025, Rogers again pledged to respect Michiganders’ decision on abortion. His principle, from a May 2023 town hall: “In my argument, the states are the best place to handle those conversations.”2
The exchange did not promise a national ban
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed says in a campaign ad that Rogers “spent his career trying to take that choice away,” Bridge Michigan reports. The ad also says Rogers backed bans “with no exceptions, even to save the mother’s life.”3
Rogers’s own words answer that: in 2010 he said “abortions should be legal only to prevent the death of the mother,” and the 20-week limit he voted for carried that exception. His campaign told Bridge Michigan that he would not support federal legislation to roll back abortion access in Michigan, and that he supports exceptions “in cases of rape, incest, and saving the mother’s life.”3
In the radio exchange, Rogers pointed to his pro-life record1. Democrats chose to call that record a liability, so let them name the vote they would undo.
Voters can judge Rogers before Nov. 3
Rogers told the Michigan Catholic Conference he opposed using taxpayer funds for abortions.
El-Sayed should answer the same questions. Is there any point in pregnancy at which he would protect a child in the womb, yes or no? Should Michigan taxpayers be forced to pay for abortions, yes or no? A candidate who defends unborn children without flinching is what families should demand from every person seeking their vote.
Sources
- @metrotimes on X, 2026-10-31: Mike Rogers told Michigan voters in 2024 he wouldn’t change their abortion rights. This week, he bragged about his 100% anti-abortion rating and told evangelical voters they “don’t even have to think about it twice.” https://www.metrotimes.com/news/mike-rogers, 2026-10-31
- Mike Rogers wants voters to forget his record of backing abortion bans | The Michigan Independent
- Fact check: Mike Rogers backed abortion bans, says he won't undo Michigan rights - Bridge Michigan