Guest post: Abortion rights at stake in governor’s race

This op-ed authored by Caitlin Borgmann (Executive Director of ACLU Montana) appeared in the Montana Standard on Oct. 7.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a fearless and inspirational advocate for women’s autonomy and equality.

In her 1993 Senate confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, she emphasized: “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. … When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.”

The decision of whether and when to have a child is a deeply personal and private decision best left to the pregnant person, their family, and their doctor. Most Americans agree. Yet some politicians continue to be obsessed with interfering.

With RBG’s death, the equality and autonomy of pregnant people in our country are in danger. Roe v Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court case that established the right to abortion, is at grave risk of being overturned or further diluted. While many of us have an eye on the high court, there are also serious threats to abortion rights closer to home.

In Montana, it is not hyperbole to say that the right to an abortion could be in the hands of the next governor.

Lt. Governor Cooney has said that he will protect reproductive freedom by vetoing any legislation that bans or restricts abortion.

Congressman Gianforte has publicly stated that he supports overturning Roe v. Wade. Gianforte also cosponsored a 2019 bill that would have sent health care providers to prison for up to five years for providing abortion services.

Criminalizing doctors and nurses for performing abortions may sound far-fetched to some, but it is a real threat. In prior legislative sessions, some Montana legislators have threatened health care providers with criminal punishment—including jail time—for providing abortions. Health care professionals cannot focus on providing the best care possible for their patients when they fear being arrested and jailed.

Other anti-abortion bills have passed the Montana legislature in prior sessions and would have become law if not for the governor’s veto. These include fetal personhood initiatives, bills meant to shame people by mandating unneccessary and intrusive tests before an abortion, and laws that severely undermine a young person’s right to have an abortion. Increasingly extremist lawmakers are trying to chip away at Montanans’ right to privacy in medical and reproductive decisions. We know their end goal is making abortion illegal.

This could become the reality all too soon. Already anti-abortion bills have been filed for the upcoming 2021 legislative session. The right to abortion care is on the line in this election. If anti-abortion measures pass the governor’s desk in 2021, nurses and doctors could be criminalized and sent to jail for practicing health care, and Montanans in need of abortion care might have nowhere to turn.

We at the ACLU of Montana do not support, oppose, or endorse candidates, but we want voters to know the candidates’ positions so they can cast an informed vote. Reproductive freedom is on the line in this election, and the candidates have very different views. Our next governor may well decide the fate of the right to abortion care in Montana.

Use your vote to protect the right to abortion.

Caitlin Borgmann is executive director of ACLU of Montana.