Lansing — Right to Life of Michigan and the Michigan Catholic Conference praised the state for passing legislation making it illegal to coerce a woman into having an abortion.

Gov. Rick Snyder signed the Coercive Abortion Prevention Act on June 8 after it passed the state House by a 65-43 vote, and the Senate by a 26-11 vote, mostly along party lines.

“These measures finally allow implementation of existing law to protect women against unwanted or forced abortions,” the MCC said in a statement. The conference recognized state Reps. Amanda Price (R-Holland) and Nancy Jenkins (R-Clayton), who sponsored the legislation, saying they “recognize the importance of protecting women against coercion to abort their child, which can have negative physical and emotional impacts on their health.”

Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing said the legislation was the culmination of a decade of pro-life advocacy.

“The abortion industry in Michigan has profited from thousands of women who never chose to have an abortion,” Listing said. “It’s time for that to end.”

According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, the number of abortions in Michigan decreased for the first time in three years in 2015, dropping 1.7 percent, or roughly 500. In total, 27,151 abortions were reported in Michigan last year.

The new legislation makes it illegal to coerce a woman to have an abortion by means of threat of physical, psychological, reputational or financial harm.