The issue of abortion has been at the forefront of attention in Montana this week amid a closely watched U.S. Senate election.
On Wednesday, the state’s Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a law that restricted abortion access for minors to those with parental consent.
“Politicians should not be in the business of making decisions about women’s health,” a spokesperson for Sen. Jon Tester said in response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, adding that the Democratic incumbent “will continue to fight for Montana women to have the freedom and privacy to make their own health decisions.”
The farmer-turned-congressman faces tough challenges in heavily Republican states and is seen as vulnerable in this election, along with senators up for re-election in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, while abortion is likely to remain a top social issue.
A spokesman for Tester’s Republican opponent, Tim Sheehy, said he was disappointed with the court’s decision.
“As a father of four young children, including two young daughters, Tim is troubled by this decision which weakens his parental rights and puts his girls at risk,” a Sheehy for Montana spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“This action by the Montana Supreme Court should concern all Montanans. Parents absolutely deserve to be involved in their children’s health care.”
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A pro-abortion rights demonstrator holds a sign during a rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on May 14, 2022. (Associated Press)
Meanwhile, Montana’s Republican governor responded strongly, blasting the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a state law requiring parental consent for abortions for minors, while the state’s vulnerable Democratic senator praised the ruling, saying women should be able to make their own health care decisions.
“I am deeply concerned and disappointed by the Montana Supreme Court’s decision today, which holds that parents lack a fundamental right to oversee their infant daughter’s medical care,” Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte responded. “In its decision, the Supreme Court has swung a hammer at one of the fundamental rights in the history of our nation: a parent’s right to consent to the medical care of their minor child,” he added.
The ruling confirmed earlier rulings by lower courts that had found the law unconstitutional, particularly with regard to state-level constitutional documents.
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U.S. Highway 89 near Gardiner, Montana on July 15, 2020. (Brett French/Billings Gazette via The Associated Press)
Justice Lori McKinnon, who was elected to the bench on a bipartisan bench in 2012, wrote that minors enjoy the same “fundamental right to privacy” as adults.
“[That] This includes the right to reproductive autonomy and to make medical decisions that affect the integrity and health of one’s body in collaboration with chosen health care providers who are not influenced by government interests.”
The decision was unanimous and Chief Justice Mike McGrath recused himself from the case.
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President Biden gestures while speaking to Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. (Getty Images)
Following the 2022 US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade, Tester warned that the ruling “will mean that women and doctors in states across the country will face prison for exercising this long-held right.”
“For nearly 50 years, women have been able to make their own health care decisions without government interference. Judges and politicians should not be able to tell women how to live their lives or infringe on their fundamental right to privacy,” Tester said.
The issue of abortion has become a political battleground not only in the election campaign but also among moderates in key states, where former President Donald Trump has sought to distance himself from a ruling in Republican-backed Alabama that recognized the personhood of the fetus.
President Trump said in February that he fully supports in vitro fertilization (IVF) and called on Yellow Hammer State lawmakers to protect the practice despite the ruling.
Montana’s law, passed in 2013, was quickly challenged by Planned Parenthood and was the subject of a court injunction blocking its implementation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report..
