Valley Views
Vote for reproductive freedom
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U.S. women now live in a country where they’ve been relegated to second-class citizens courtesy of the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority ignored 50 years of precedent and overturned the constitutional right to abortion nationwide. Abortion policy now falls to individual states, and now nearly half ban or limit access to abortion. But that’s not enough for Republicans in Congress.
GOP leaders endorse a national abortion ban with zero exceptions for rape or incest. They want to ban IVF treatment, end access to medication abortion, and gut funding for contraception. These anti-choice, anti-woman policies mirror the extreme agenda in Project 2025, which flatly rejects the idea that abortion is an essential component of women’s health care.
Don’t be lulled into complacency that our State Constitution will safeguard abortion access in Montana. A nationwide abortion ban would nullify our State constitutional protection of privacy, stripping Montana women of their civil rights to health, liberty, and personal autonomy.
Be assured GOP candidates on the 2024 general election ballot will vote for a national abortion ban. Senate GOP candidate Tim Sheehy states he is “proudly pro-life” and opposes CI-128, a MT ballot initiative that would provide a state constitutional right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion. When discussing abortion, Sheehy has called it “sinful,” “terrible,” “repulsive,” and said he wants abortion “all to end tomorrow.”
MT-01 incumbent Ryan Zinke has consistently voted in favor of new nationwide restrictions on abortion and health care access for active-duty military personnel and their families. Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America, whose mission is to end abortion, gives Zinke an A+ rating for his anti-abortion voting record. MT-02 GOP candidate Troy Downing supports a federal ban on abortion. Both Downing and Sheehy are endorsed by SBA for the 2024 election cycle.
Governor Gianforte and our Montana Legislature have worked tirelessly the last two sessions to push through a dozen bills restricting abortion access, though most are tied up in court for now. And let’s not overlook Montana’s senior Senator Steve Daines, founder and chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, who is on record stating, “For the pro-life movement, overturning Roe is not the end, but only the beginning.”
The deck is stacking against Montana women and our sisters nationwide. We must push back on government intrusion into our personal health care decisions. This November, vote for candidates who will protect women’s reproductive rights for generations to come. Vote Jon Tester for Senate, Monica Tranel for MT-01, John Driscoll for MT-02, Ryan Busse for Governor, Raph Graybill for Lt. Governor, Ben Alke for Attorney General, Jesse James Mullen for Secretary of State, and vote yes on 128.
