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The more the GOP fights against abortion, the more it will backfire • Daily Montanan [1]

['Dave Lewis', 'George Ochenski', 'Darrell Ehrlick', 'James C. Nelson', 'More From Author', 'April']

Date: 2024-04-11  

I am a relatively new member of the woman’s right-to-choose movement.

I was converted when, instead of turning to men or older women to discuss abortion, I began having discussions with my 20- and 30-year-old granddaughters and granddaughters-in-law. They represent the population that may experience an unwanted pregnancy and has to wrestle with the issue of abortion. The discussion started with me repeating my long term opposition to abortion and their response that I really had very little right to tell them what they should do, since the outcome is going to be dealt with by the mother. I, as a man, had no right to make that decision. Single moms are heroes of our society by taking on raising a child. A hard fact for me to accept, but the truth.

One thing they said was an issue was the difficulty for single moms to provide for their children. Sad but true. Full-time jobs and expensive child care are real hurdles.

The right to privacy guaranteed in the Montana Constitution has been used to guarantee the right of a woman to choose how she resolves the issue of an unwanted pregnancy. But there has been a fear that the court could be a couple elections away from changing that interpretation. So there has been an draft initiative prepared to amend the constitution to provide for the right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy — a straight-forward statement, and one likely to pass because polls show close to 60% of voters agree.

The politics comes in from the desire of Democrats to get out the vote of younger voters and women. The Republicans see this one coming and have used every possible strategy to keep the measure off the ballot. These strategies have been shrouded in concerns about overreach of the judiciary, but the real issue is that this measure would help Democrats win legislative elections.

It appears to me that the current status of this dispute may result in the measure being delayed until it is too late for the signatures to be gathered. But this battle could result in what the Republicans resist: An election issue motivating younger and women voters to turn out in big numbers because of the outrage generated by the tactics used to keep it off the ballot.

Montana Politics is never boring, and for sure not this year.

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[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/04/11/the-more-the-gop-fights-against-abortion-the-more-it-will-backfire/

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