Montana medical professionals tell politicians to stay out of reproductive health care decisions
On the eve of the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs that put abortion protections back in the hands of states, more than 100 Montana medical professionals signed a letter calling on Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and lawmakers to get their hands out of reproductive health care decisions.
“Montana medical professionals call on our state lawmakers and Governor Gianforte to stop their attacks on our patients’ reproductive health and bodily autonomy. Decisions around abortion should be left to women and their trained doctors – not politicians,” the 106 medical professionals wrote in a letter put forward by the Committee to Protect Health Care.
Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the nation’s High Court essentially overturning the Roe v. Wade decision that put abortion protections in place nationwide in 1973. The court’s decision last year put considerations of abortion laws back in the hands of state governments.
In the year since, several states have enacted new laws severely restricting abortion access, leaving women in some of the states having to travel to receive abortions and other reproductive health care, and others having to undergo life-threatening medical situations because professionals could not legally attend to their conditions.
Abortion remains legal in Montana through the state Supreme Court’s Armstrong v. State of Montana decision. It protects access to abortion based on the state’s constitutional privacy protection.