“Mindful” regulations on women a hypocrisy
Amy Regier’s recent letter on CI-128 is the ultimate exercise in hypocrisy. Regier claims the adoption of CI-128 is not necessary, in fact, a “reckless change,” because Montanans already have strong protections for abortion rights under the Montana Supreme Court 1999 decision of Armstrong v. State, relying on the privacy clause of Montana’s Constitution. Regier touts the value of thoughtful decision-making based on facts in making her argument. So, let’s look at the facts.
Regier’s argument urging Montanans not to adopt CI-128 because Montanans can rely on the 1999 Armstrong decision has been proven on the federal level to be incorrect. The reliance on legal precedence she describes in Montana is the same situation that existed in the U.S. Supreme Court until the Court was packed with ultra-conservative Justices and over 50 years of legal precedence under Roe was overturned by the Dobbs decision and abortion rights wren gone. The same could happen in Montana.
In fact, Regier and her Republican colleagues have already implemented that plan. They are backing two candidates for the Montana Supreme Court this election cycle who have been endorsed by anti-abortion groups. Changing the makeup of the Court is how Dobbs came about at the federal level. The first steps to overrule Montana’s Court decision on abortion are already underway.
Regier also claims that the initiative introduces new dangers by removing widely endorsed “mindful regulations” that protect women. Presumably she is talking about the endless roadblocks that have been enacted by Republican legislatures to delay, complicate and even deny abortion access for women, previously protected under Roe, rather than leaving that decision to the individual, her family and her physician. Those same mindful regulations enacted in many states mean women are now being denied treatment in emergency rooms and doctors threatened to be charged with crimes, including murder.
Regier concludes her letter by stating that Montanans deserve better than emotionally charged rhetoric pushing reckless changes. She should take her own advice rather than preach to the rest of us. Until hypocrites like Regier no longer hold public office, the sorry fact is that Montana’s constitution needs to include a provision that protects women’s private health care decisions.
Roger Barber and Mary VanBuskirk, Whitefish