Is Montana “The Worst”?

Recently, I traveled to Minnesota for work, and I noticed a familiar phrase from most of the politically engaged folks that attended my meetings and events. Now, to be fair, not many people who are apolitical are apt to attend one of my talks. Nor are many of these folks secular. That leaves a pretty homogenized group of Christian Constitutional Conservatives who are awake, aware, and tired of the political games. Most are hoping to be encouraged. They come to hear about the Lord’s miraculous work in saving my life before I was born. Many have been working diligently in the political realm for years—decades even—although there’s a particularly large subset who’ve become politically active during, or since, COVID.

Similar mindsets make similar small talk, no matter if you’re in Kalispell or Kalamazoo. These God-fearing patriots are weary of their state’s many ills, as well as the nation’s—yet, they feel most closely aligned with their local legislative shenanigans. This sense of patriotic responsibility leads many to express the phrase I’d like to bring to your attention, because I’ve heard it from many, many Montanans, “our state is the worst.” It doesn’t seem to matter if I’m in Arizona, Minnesota, Texas, New York—or in our case, Montana—we all seem to think that our home state’s political climate is the worst in the country.  

What causes this?  Why do the most informed and engaged tend toward this abasement? Are we even close? While it’s simply not possible for all fifty states to truly be the worst, let’s look at where we’re at as a state, and see if any of this warrants our attention.

Let’s start with low-hanging fruit: our courts.  Now, Montana truly has the worst judiciary, as evidenced by this recent decision to strike down two common-sense pro-life laws. This is just one of many cases where the kangaroos in our district courts, as well as our state Supreme Court, strike down perfectly good laws that our people have voted for or that our Legislature has passed. This has earned them the working title of a “Super-Legislature” by Sen. Keith Regier, as well as the dubious distinction of being the most overturned State Supreme Court in the country. Take into consideration the fact that we’re under the Ninth Circuit, which is notoriously the most liberal court of appeals—that’s pretty extreme!  

So, as far as our courts—yes, we truly are “the worst.”  However, we can’t genuinely smear that label onto the entire rest of the state. In my lane, I lobby for laws to protect life from the moment of conception until natural death. It’s a privilege to travel the country and see what other states are dealing with, and I can tell you by experience—we are far from “the worst”! How so? Well, we don’t have legalized prostitution, with the immense fallout that brings, like Nevada. I don’t keynote pregnancy center banquets here in Montana and hear staff tell me about Madams bringing “their girls” in for abortions on a regular rotation—how refreshing!

Also, while we’re the most abortion-friendly state in our region, abortion tourism is relatively low. Shocking, I know, but check this out: the average percentage of American women who travel out-of-state for abortion is 16%, yet Montana’s only showing about 10-11% of our 2,000+ annual abortions are performed on women who are not Montana residents.  While 84% of our statewide abortions utilize the two-pill regimen (commonly referred to as “chemical-”, or “pill-abortions”), these are only performed when Mom is 10 weeks along or less.  Our “abortion rate,” or the number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age, is 10.3—much less than the national average of 14.4. 

We aren’t in the same boat as Minnesota, where escorts in safety vests drive minors to abortuaries from the state line, at taxpayer expense.  We also don’t have a law allowing infanticide until almost a month after birth, like the one Maryland tried to pass (and California almost did in 2022, until they amended the language of Prop 1). Instead, this Legislative Session in Montana included HB 723, a law to shore up any infanticide by closing what is usually a legal loophole whereby babies who survive abortions are killed after being born.  

Basic biology tells us that life begins at the moment of conception, and abortionists will confirm the same. That’s right—abortionists know that life begins at the moment of conception.  They know it’s a baby. Sick? Absolutely. The sobering reality is that these myths— “it’s a clump of cells” as well as “we don’t know when life begins”—are blatant lies, drummed up to bolster profit margins by an industry that literally makes a killing for a living. 

But, the question remains—is Montana “the worst?” From a pro-life stance, no, I don’t think we’re even close. Not when many of our legislators speak up in favor of life on the House and Senate floor, and are very interested in passing laws to protect the preborn, disabled, and elderly. If the courts hadn’t jumped in, we actually would have a number of decent pro-life laws on the books. Few of the pro-abortion Legislators even step up to testify that they don’t know when life begins, which is a big win for our state. I didn’t see that when I testified in Maryland or Virginia, that’s for sure.

We also need to take popular opinion into account, and I’ll add that I get the privilege of representing Montanans for Life at a variety of venues across the state. Yesterday, I was blessed to man our organization’s table at “Spring Into Summer!”—one of many events where we set up an informational booth at a public gathering. While the mainstream media may fashion a narrative that “most Montanans favor abortion without limits,” that’s not what I’ve seen firsthand out in the community. I’ve had curious children come to play with the fetal models on our table, and many of the passerby tell me stories of when they chose life for the child the conceived out of wedlock. Most give a thumbs-up and express gratitude for the work we do. Those who are for abortion quietly pass by. Would that happen in a state that’s “the worst”?  

My experience has been that in places that truly are “the worst,” you’re more likely to be booed or greeted by an angry mob shaking coat hangers at you. Some may even wear nihilistic tees with things like “I wish I was aborted” on the front, stuffed vaginas on their heads, or white robes smattered with fake blood. I’ve not seen these particular fashion choices take center stage here in the Big Sky state, praise God. I’ll be thrilled if we keep the cowboy boots and jeans center stage—and I’ll even tolerate the man-buns. But please—let’s keep the coat hangers in the closet. And stuffed vaginas are just so hard to accessorize with.

In all this, I’m reminded of a skit called, “That’s the Worst!” by Tim Hawkins, the Christian Comedian.  Hawkins masterfully utilizes satire to help us see things as they really are, and this skit is no exception. In less than ten minutes, he takes the audience through his family’s trip to drop a teenage daughter off at the mall, only to find her friends aren’t there yet, which is said to be “the worst.”  Hawkins rolls his eyes out loud, and then compares having to wait a few minutes to shop at the mall with miners in Chile who were trapped underground for 69 days in 2010.  By contrast, waiting at the mall seems trivial.

When we think of our state as “the worst,” are we in the same boat?  Do we have a myopic view of our state’s flaws?  Are we so focused on the negative aspects that we’re blinded to the overall truth?  It’s easy to be an Eeyore, and there are certainly lots of negative aspects of every single state.  However, let’s not lose sight of the blessings we do have.  At the end of the day, there are many to be counted—not the least of which is simply being a Montanan.