Montana Leaders Highlight 2024 Stakes for Reproductive Rights
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 23, 2023
CONTACT
monica@mtdems.org
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana and Montana Democrats hold press call ahead of the one-year Dobbs anniversary
Helena, MT – Today, Montana Democrats and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana held a press call to highlight the state of abortion access in Montana and the stakes for reproductive rights in the 2024 election.
Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of Dobbs, the Supreme Court decision that overturned the protections of Roe v. Wade and jeopardized abortion access across the country. Montana Republicans have been fighting to outlaw abortion ever since, and today, Montana leaders sounded the alarm.
“The Dobbs decision and the consequences that have followed are the direct result of Republicans’ unrelenting, decades-long war on health care and the right to choose,” said Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. “The Montana GOP is wildly out of step with Montanans on this issue, and Republicans like Tim Sheehy and Matt Rosendale will have to answer for their anti-abortion records from now until next November. The stakes for the 2024 election couldn’t be higher.”
“Montana’s abortion providers are fighting hard to make sure patients have access to the care they need,” said Martha Fuller, CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana. “In addition to the courts, we need to bring that fight to the ballot box. We need to keep Jon Tester in the United States Senate and elect champions for reproductive rights up and down the ballot in 2024.”
“Again and again during the legislative session, we saw Republicans attack the rights that Montanans overwhelmingly support,” said Rep. Laurie Bishop (HD-60). “Montana women deserve the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Every election on the ballot next year is going to be critical for protecting abortion access in Montana.”
“I fought to protect the reproductive rights of Montanans in the Senate, but Republicans blocked us every step of the way,” said Sen. Jen Gross (SD-25).“We are going to make sure every Montana voter knows that Republicans worked overtime to deny them their freedoms, their medical privacy, and their right to make decisions about their own lives and futures.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
Potential GOP Senate candidates Matt Rosendale and Tim Sheehy are backing extreme abortion positions that are out of step with Montana values:
Tim Sheehy compared abortion to murder in an April interview when asked about the Supreme Court ruling protecting access to the abortion pill.
Matt Rosendale said he believes in protecting “the sanctity of life” in “all circumstances, no exceptions.” He repeatedly cosponsored legislation, including in 2023, that is widely considered a “complete or nearly complete ban on abortion.”
Montana Republicans have dangerous records of working to chip away women’s freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions:
Greg Gianforte, who is fighting to end the constitutional right to safe, legal abortion in Montana, signed a slate of abortion restrictions into law after this legislative session, including a 15-week ban on abortion.
Steve Daines founded and chairs the Pro-Life Caucus and has been one of the most staunch opponents of abortion access in the U.S. Senate. He is a cosponsor of a federal abortion ban, and when Roe vs. Wade was overturned, Daines celebrated that states would now have “the power to end the violence of abortion.”
Ryan Zinke voted for an abortion ban in Congress, and as a state legislator, he voted for a bill stating there was no right to an abortion in the Montana Constitution.
Austin Knudsen is wielding the power of his attorney general position to fight to overturn the Montana Supreme Court’s landmark 1999 decision protecting access to abortion. If Knudsen were successful, abortion could be outlawed in Montana.
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