FILE – In this Friday, June 24, 2022, file photo, abortion rights protesters cheer at a rally following the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, federally protected right to abortion, outside the state capitol in Lansing, Mich. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Monday, Aug. 1, 2022, that county prosecutors can enforce the state’s 91-year-old abortion ban, paving the way for abortion to become illegal in parts of the state. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge has blocked county prosecutors from enforcing a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban that would have allowed providers to be charged with a felony. The preliminary injunction Friday follows a state Court of Appeals ruling this month that a May preliminary injunction applies only to the attorney general’s office, not county prosecutors, who handle most criminal cases. Friday’s ruling followed two days of witness testimony. Prosecutors in some of the state’s most populous counties have said they wouldn’t charge providers regardless of the decision, but Republican prosecutors in Kent, Jackson and Macomb counties have said they should be able to enforce the 1931 law. David Kallman, an attorney for two Republican county prosecutors, says an appeal is planned.