Montana News
Montanans share their concerns ahead of abortion rights vote
With Montana news, I'm Corinne Cades-Carnie. Montanans will vote in the coming weeks on the right to terminate a pregnancy. Abortion rights advocates are asking voters to add protections for access in the state constitution. MTPR Shailie Rager reports. So I made this hanky... Carrie Workman sells her art at an uptown butte ice cream shop in late July. She holds up a square cloth printed with a coiled snake. And the words don't tread on our reproductive rights. The text of Montana's constitutional right to privacy lines the scalloped trim. "An idea is that you could pull that out instead of your constitution book just to educate yourself but also others of like this is the part of our constitution that's protecting our our right to reproductive health right now in Montana that we don't want to lose." Workman is referring to state Supreme Court precedent that says Montana's right to privacy prevents undue government interference in abortion access. While the court is affirmed that precedent several times, it's not set in stone. It's not codified. precedent can change with the opinion of judges, like in the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, which ended federal protections for the right to end a pregnancy. To give abortion access a firmer foundation, advocates have been rallying in support of a ballot proposal to enshrine abortion access in the state's constitution. Workman displayed her art in butte at an event where attendees could get a scoop of ice cream, shop artisan crafts, and get information about abortion access. "You don't want to be forced to do anything, but especially like bring a life into the world. And so just having that right and that access is so important for the whole community." Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, 13 states have enacted total abortion bans. 11 others have banned abortion at different points in pregnancy. Planned Parenthood of Montana and the ballot committee, Montanans securing reproductive rights are behind the measure that will appear on ballots this year, hoping to prevent such a ban. Martha Fuller is president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana. "It's really about who's in charge of making those decisions about pregnancy. Is it you, the the Montana, the person who's pregnant, or is it the government?" The measure will appear on the ballot as CI 128 with yes or no underneath. Voters will choose whether or not they want to amend the Constitution with new language. The text is fairly long and can be found on the Montana Secretary of State's website. To paraphrase, it would prohibit the government from burdening abortion access before fetal viability. It would also prohibit the government from burdening abortion access when a treating healthcare professional finds it's medically indicated to protect the pregnant patient's life or health post viability. Opponents of the measure argue that language is too broad, among other concerns. Dale Schoengert is a former Solicitor General for Montana. He offered analysis of the proposal as part of the Montana Catholic Conferences Campaign against it. "It is purposely written very vaguely and when a constitutional provision does that, like this one does, it creates especially big problems because constitutional law is the law of the state. It trumps everything else." Schoengert says the phrase "fetal viability is vague" and allowing healthcare providers to determine when abortion is medically indicated is subjective. He says that would permit abortion up until the moment of birth. "What we do understand about the law makes it one of the most extreme abortion laws in the country and in fact the world." Nine states allow abortion, regardless of viability, which is less strict than what Montana's ballot measure proposes. Claims that abortion rights advocates would allow for abortions up until the moment of birth have been raised by prominent GOP candidates for office this cycle. Fact checkers with the Pointer Institute reported that a similar claim was false. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than 1% of abortions occur after 21 weeks gestation. According to Health Research and News Organization KFF, there are five clinics total in the U.S. that offer abortion services at or after 28 weeks. KFF says abortions that late in pregnancy are provided in exceptional circumstances and that no clinician offers abortion services up until birth. "The term fetal viability is more complicated," says Fuller with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana. "People, I think, tend to think of viability as being a specific moment in time, but the reality is every pregnancy is unique. Some pregnancies will never be viable and so the understanding of viability is based on that unique pregnancy and the circumstances of the pregnancy." The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which advocates for abortion access, says the term fetal viability is misleading. Survival rates for babies born prematurely range dramatically between 22 and 25 weeks gestation. Clinicians look at several factors to determine viability while a fetus is in the womb. For that reason, the College opposes policymakers using viability to restrict abortion. They say each case is extremely personal and should be left between clinicians and their patients. Sarah rushing is a political science professor at Montana State University and studies where personal health experiences meet politics. She's those some people experience a political awakening. After navigating a health system, they don't have much control in, like during pregnancy, childbirth, or while seeking an abortion. "That's one context where sort of the immediate visceral embodiment of threat, whether you're actually a pregnant person seeking to terminate a pregnancy or you're just someone who could potentially be pregnant or care for someone in that situation. I think that is a very much an awakening moment for many women today." That was the case for Shasta McLaughlin from Belgrade. "I lost three babies and I know the pain that that causes." McLaughlin attended a she-praise-she-votes rally in Bozeman put on by the conservative Concerned Women for America. McLaughlin's Mormon faith informs her opinion on abortion and her experience with miscarriage made her feelings on the issue stronger. "I believe that women are really led to have an abortion whenever they have an unplanned pregnancy, but that does not serve them. And I believe that someone always dies in an abortion and that's not okay." But similar personal experiences can bring people to different conclusions. Gwendolyn Chilcoat helped found butte action alliance to advocate for abortion access. The organization holds events like the one in the Uptown ice cream shop to urge people to join their cause. "I have four children and I've had an abortion and I've had a miscarriage and I know how personal all those decisions are." Chilcoat says the idea of being denied a choice in whether to continue a pregnancy makes her feel like a second-class citizen. "How can you just take away these rights that are ours that we're already fought for that we're supposedly settled? It feels like I'm in prison, like I am not allowed the things all the other humans are allowed anymore." All states that have put the question of abortion rights before voters since the repeal of Roe v. Wade have come away with protections for access. Montanans will vote on the issue November 5th. In Helena, I'm Shalee Reger. This is Montana Public Radio News.