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Sheehy criticizes ballot measures, including initiative to protect abortion • Daily Montanan [1]
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Date: 2024-08-22
On a recent campaign stop, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Tim Sheehy criticized a ballot measure “trying to legalize abortion completely” after making a claim about the medical procedure earlier found to be false.
Abortion is legal in Montana.
This week, Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights announced the Secretary of State’s Office certified Constitutional Initiative 128 for the ballot. CI-128 aims to protect reproductive rights, including abortion, in the state constitution.
Sheehy, a Bozeman businessman, describes himself as “strongly pro-life” and also “in strong support of IVF.” He’s trying to unseat incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.
In a June 8 debate, Sheehy said Tester has voted for “elective abortions up to and including the moment of birth” — a claim repeated on his campaign website — and one Tester said was untrue, according to a story from KFF Health News.
“To say we’re killing babies at 40 weeks is total BS,” Tester said.
A factcheck from KFF Health News found Sheehy’s claim was false.
In a campaign stop last month, Sheehy described the abortion measure for which petitioners had been gathering signatures as “trying to legalize abortion completely, 100 percent across the board,” according to a video of the talk shared on social media.
“Those petitions are not good for Montana,” Sheehy said.
The language of the initiative states that CI-128 would amend the Montana Constitution to “prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability.”
A spokesperson for the Sheehy campaign did not respond to a question about his statements.
In a social media post in June, Tester expressed support for CI-128.
“Thanks to over 117,000 signatures—the most of any ballot initiative in Montana’s history—reproductive health care is one step closer to being on the ballot.
“Montanans always stand for freedom, and they’ll make their voices heard in November.”
Supporters and detractors are pouring money and energy into fighting for and against CI-128.
In February, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America announced it would spend $92 million in 2024 in eight states including Montana.
“Life is the human-rights issue of our time and the pivotal issue in 2024 elections,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA, in a statement at the time. “ … This election cycle will be our largest ground game yet as we will focus on key battleground states to win a pro-life Senate and elect a National Defender of Life as president.”
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights has raised nearly $3.3 million since it first filed in November last year and through the most recent finance report with the Commissioner of Political Practices.
In 1999, the Montana Supreme Court found the state’s constitutional protection of privacy includes the right of women to make their own medical decisions, including to obtain a pre-viability abortion.
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