Montana’s Fight for Life is in the Hopper

Midway through a chaotic Legislative Session, fraught with division and infighting, the value of human life is on the docket. Beginning on Day Two of this session, nine Republicans voted with the Democrats in a key Rules vote. These same nine have continued to vote in step with the Dems, and their ringleader—Sen. Jason Ellsworth (SD 43)—is embroiled in yet another scandal. Though he denied wrongdoing, The Legislative Auditor stated Ellsworth abused his power in negotiating a $170,000 contract with a colleague, without bidding. 

This has been a thorn in Republican Senators proverbial sides, as they do not have the number of votes needed to get key bills through. Much of the session has been focused on this. This, coupled with the recent vote for CI-128, a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion until birth at taxpayer expense, might make most believe we should just throw in the towel. At least, that is what the abortion lobby would like to have us think. Thankfully, some key bills are still making their way through the Montana Legislature. So, hang on to your towel, as we take a step back from the drama to catch a glimpse of the life issues that are being debated at the Capitol this session.

Choosing Life Over Despair

For the state who holds the dubious distinction of having the highest suicide rate in the country, Montana being entrenched in the fight to legalize physician assisted suicide is almost too fantastic to believe. This is a slippery slope, as we have learned from Canada. “I am sorry, Mr. Smith, we can’t get you in for your surgery for at least a few months, but have you considered dying instead? We can arrange that right away.” This is a sick reality for our Northern neighbors.

At the onset, physician-assisted suicide is pitched as compassion, but quickly leads to encouraging folks to choose death over treatment for illnesses and disease processes that are far from terminal. Assisted suicide stigmatizes those needing long-term care, labeling them instead as “burdensome”—the number one reason listed by those who tout physician-assisted suicide. 

Proponents pitch pain as the focus, stating the need to relieve suffering as their aim. A deeper dive proves otherwise, as the cocktail of deadly drugs does not provide the advertised lack of suffering. Patients do not “die peacefully,” as we are led to believe. The first meds administered paralyze the patient, making them unable to move, or even cry out. This provides the illusion of peace to the onlooker, but the patient then suffers immensely as the next drugs drown the patient, which is anything but “quick and painless.”

Two bills that directly deal with this are currently making their way through the Legislative process. HB 637 seeks to make the process legal in Montana, while SB 136 would close a legal loophole that was created in 2009 by a State Supreme Court case. In 2009, the State Supreme Court ruled in the Baxter case that patient consent can be used posthumously as a defense for a physician who assists in a patient’s suicide.

Born to Live

In keeping the intent to kill versus care theme, HB 723 mandates reporting of babies born alive after abortion attempts. I am one of those babies (a baby with a half-century of life experience, but who’s counting?) and I am honored to have helped craft this bill. The premise of the bill is simply to prevent infanticide. Once a baby is slated to be killed before birth, their entrance into the world is not a welcome one. A baby born alive is rather inconvenient for the abortionist who was just paid (handsomely) to snuff out the life of a child. 

Rather than admit the truth that abortionists are fallible human beings and that every procedure has a failure rate, many nurses have instead testified to the horrendous acts they have been ordered to perform to provide cover for the abortionist’s shame. These testimonies included leaving newborns to die in the utility closet, laying them naked on a cold, steel medical table, and worse. 

Abortionists themselves have admitted to killing the children who have survived their gruesome ministrations, such as Kermit Gosnell, an American serial killer and former abortion provider, who would “snip” the back of the baby’s neck. HB 723 puts a fine point on the matter by requiring that when a baby is born alive after one or more abortion attempts, reporting that a live birth has occurred is mandatory.  This dovetails nicely with last session’s HB 625, which required care of infants born alive after abortion attempts.  Both work to bring some sanity back into healthcare, restoring the focus on care, instead of killing.

The intent to care (the principle that medical providers aim to preserve and support life rather than terminate a pregnancy) is protected by HB 388, which is another bill introduced this session that seeks to protect pregnancy care centers from legal attacks. In Hartford, Connecticut, pregnancy centers have faced the legal coercion to refer for abortions. In 2018, the Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 ruling that overturned a 2016 California law requiring pro-life pregnancy centers to refer for abortions. 

The pro-abortion lobby has worked diligently to cast pro-life centers as “deceptive” since they provide counsel on birth, adoption, and the truth of what actually happens to mom and baby during an abortion. Projection, much? We are glad Rep. Amy Regier (HD 6) sponsored HB 388, which has passed the House and is on to the Senate. Hopefully—prayerfully—the drama in the Senate does not preclude our good Senators from passing this important bill to protect Montana’s sixteen pregnancy centers. That, my friends, would be a welcome miracle!

Other life-related issues are being debated, such as a possible Personhood Amendment, and a bill to stop the sale of aborted babies’ body parts (a ghastly, yet lucrative business). One bill works to stop abortion trafficking, another endeavors to give parents more say about sex ed in schools, and two will deal with the delicate issue of human remains and forever chemicals in our water supply from at-home DIY pill abortions.

Whether the focus is on the beginning of life or trying to remove bitterness at the end, Montanans are passionate about the life issue. As Kat Timpf discovered this week, the two are not very far removed. The Fox News contributor gave birth just hours after being diagnosed with cancer. She shares a refreshing embrace of motherhood, in what she termed her “Unconventional Birth Announcement.” Timpf wrote, “I’m lucky to be my son’s mom… here’s to resilience, to miracles in the midst of chaos.”

Montanans, miracles really do happen in the midst of chaos.  Here’s to the resilience needed for the second half of a particularly chaotic Legislative session. To miracles and to Legislators who continue to fight to create a culture where every Montanan is valued, from the womb to the tomb.