Guest View: 50 years after Roe v. Wade, Montana courts are the last line of defense for abortion
Today, Jan. 22, might have been a day of celebration. It could have marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the monumental Supreme Court case which acknowledged the constitutional right to abortion and full reproductive care. But that won’t happen. Last year, nearly half a century after Roe was decided, the fundamental right to have an abortion — a right cherished and relied upon by three generations of Americans — was callously torn away by a polarized majority of Supreme Court justices.
Now, in 2023, rather than celebrate the fact that countless people in our state and across the country are free to make basic decisions about their own bodies, what we’re left with instead is a fractured national landscape and emboldened politicians who seek to end the right to an abortion in Montana.
In 1999, the Montana Supreme Court issued a historic ruling called Armstrong v. State. It said that the right to privacy granted to all Montanans under our state Constitution also protects a person’s choice to get an abortion. This was monumental, recognizing the common-sense reality that the government has no business in telling people what to do with their bodies or how to plan their own families. That single ruling has been the bedrock of the freedom we’ve enjoyed in Montana for more than two decades. But that could all change if lawmakers in the state Legislature are allowed to have their way.
For years now, a group of extremist politicians have worked night and day to undermine and weaken our state courts, trying every way they can to get back at the court for its decision to defend the right of Montanans to have an abortion. First, they tried jamming through a constitutional amendment which would have changed how we elect judges in our state, allowing politicians to manipulate electoral districts in a way that would benefit their preferred candidates. When that bill was shot down by the state Supreme Court, they went even more extreme, filing a bill which would take away the power of voters to choose their own judges and give it instead to the governor. At the Montana State Capitol this week, politicians put forward a harmful and constitutionally dubious proposal which would undo our high court’s 1999 ruling in Armstrong v. State. Not only did they attack our rights to bodily autonomy and access to safe and legal abortion, but they denied opponents of the bill the opportunity to provide full testimony, undermining the democratic legislative process.
It’s become painfully obvious just how few of our elected officials actually respect our state Constitution and the system of checks and balances it created. Politicians now think themselves to be above the law, courts be damned. Trusting extremist politicians to reform the courts would throw the delicate balance of power in our state out of whack. State courts must remain independent from the two political branches in order to play their proper role in our system of checks and balances. And it’s up to us to keep fighting for fair courts, and affirming, accessible abortion care.
This year, for the first time in 50 years, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade won’t be a joyous one — it’ll be a marker of what we’ve lost and what we will continue to advocate for — especially here in Montana. We can’t control the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, but we can do everything in our power to protect abortion care and access in Montana. Together, we can tell politicians to stop playing politics with our rights and freedoms. It’s time to stand united behind our state courts.
Quinn Leighton is Director of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana