by Helena Lovick | Jul 8, 2022 | Abortions Rights
As the marchers walked on the hot pavement, loud chants of “my body, my choice,” and cheers filled the air. Over fifty pro-choice protestors marched in the Great Falls’ 4th of July parade alongside the Cascade County Democrats.
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the privacy protections established by Roe v. Wade. Upending nearly 50 years of abortion protections, the issue was thrown back to the states. In Great Falls, multiple pro-choice grassroots groups have sprung up. Nearly daily protests have taken place on 10th Ave. South and the Central Ave. West Bridge. The people are outraged, as they should be!
While abortion is still legal in Montana, the outcome of the upcoming 2022 elections will determine the fate of abortion rights in our state.
Right now, our rights to privacy and control over our reproductive rights are protected by the Montana Constitution. When the Republican majority in the Montana Legislature passed anti-choice legislation in the 2021 Legislative session, several repulsive anti-choice bills were signed into law by our Republican Governor Gianforte. Thanks to the strong protections in the Montana Constitution, three of the laws are temporarily on hold while their fate is decided by legal challenges. Governor Gianforte is threatening a special session of the legislature once these legal challenges are decided in order to remove abortion protections in Montana. At a cost of $100,000 on the first day and $50,000 thereafter, a special session – just to remove our rights, could easily end of costing Montanans over half a million dollars.
Republicans have two routes to weaken and undermine Montana’s Constitution. And let’s be clear, they are working hard on both routes to remove our bodily autonomy.
Route #1: Gain a supermajority in the Montana Legislature
If the legal challenges don’t go their way, Republicans are counting on a gaining enough legislative seats in the upcoming election to attempt revising our Montana Constitution. They want to remove the inconvenient elements, like our rights to privacy, rights to a clean and healthful environment and a guarantee of equality of education opportunity to all. (How horrible! A right to individual privacy not infringed by the government!
)
Route #2: Undermine and pack the Montana Supreme Court with Extreme Conservatives
Montana Republicans have been attacking the independence of the Montana Supreme Court in preparation for packing the court with judges friendly to their unconstitutional legislative agenda. Our current, incumbent Montana Supreme Court Justices (Ingrid Gustafson and Jim Rice) respect the separation of branches of government and our Montana Constitution. Republicans seem to be saying, “let’s throw judicial independence out the window” as they go all in on partisan politics in these judicial races. Who needs separate branches of government, amirite? Republicans are supporting two conservative judicial candidates to change the make-up of the Montana Supreme Court. With a more conservative slanted court, Montana Republicans hope their anti-abortion laws will win future legal challenges.
Rights to privacy and reproductive freedoms won’t stay in place in Montana if more conservatives are elected in judicial positions and legislative roles. The good news is, we have four months to win elections and help preserve our rights to our own bodies. Let’s seize our chance while we still have one to protect our freedoms.
[Full Disclosure: I have helped organize two of the Great Falls pro-choice protests and marched in the 4th of July parade alongside the pro-choice group].
by WTF 406 Staff | Jul 6, 2022 | Abortions Rights
By K.T.
It was interesting to read recent news coverage of the protests in Great falls responding to the
Dobbs decision allowing states to ban abortion. Let’s start with a very simple fact. There is a
long history of violence and intimidation around the abortion debate in this country. Virtually all
that violence comes from the so-called right-to-life movement.
The Great Falls Tribune interviewed Liana Karlin, President of the Montana Chapter of the Right
to Life for its story. Karlin complained that anti-abortion activists fear for their safety and that
her national organization is now advising people to avoid “pro-choice provocations.” She
concluded by alleging that Pro-Choice groups have a propensity for violence. “Years ago, I
remember the Right to Life people being blamed for setting fires and doing whatnot,” Karlin
said. “Most of the time they found out in the end, it was the Pro-Choice or Pro-Abortion people
who were actually doing those things so we could be blamed.” To its credit the Trib pointed out
that it was unaware of incidents of pro-choice advocates being identified as arsonists or agent
provocateurs. But still, her big lie hangs in the air like Trump’s allegations of election fraud.
So, let’s recount just a few highlights of the anti-abortion movement’s violence. In March of
1993 Dr David Gunn, a physician who performed abortions, was murdered by a man who yelled,
“don’t kill any more babies” right before shooting Dr Gunn in the back with a shot gun. In the
late 1990’s a series of bombings killed 2 people and injured hundreds of others. The perpetrator,
Eric Robert Rudolf, said his motivation was “abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.”
Between 1993 and 2016 anti-choice zealots murdered 11 people including doctors, clinic employees, a clinic escort, a security guard, and a police officer. There were 26 attempted
murders in the same period.
Here in Montana anti-abortion protesters routinely surrounded clinics. Women attempting to use
healthcare services were threatened and harassed by anti-abortion activists. Many people
volunteered to escort them through the protest lines to assure women were able to access
healthcare services. It was an ugly scene.
In addition, clinics in Montana have been routinely targeted for vandalism and arson. In 2014 All
Families Healthcare, a family medicine and reproductive health-care facility in Kalispell, was
broken into and severely damaged resulting in the clinic closing. Then there is the prolonged
harassment of Dr Susan Wicklund who was providing health care services including abortions in
Livingston. Wicklund was followed, threatened, and harassed. Her home was broken into, and
her daughter had to be taken to school by a police escort. From 1993 to 1994, anti-choice
activist Richard T. Andrews set fire to clinics in several states including clinics in Helena,
Missoula and Kalispell.
While all this activity was illegal and outside the political process, the anti-abortion movement
was busily organizing in the electoral arena. Orchestrating purges within the Republican Party,
recruiting candidates, forming political action committees, and building coalitions. And the
largest constituency of that effort was evangelical Christians and the issue that motivated them
more than anything else has been abortion. After decades of political organizing through groups
like the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, National Right to Life and the Federalist Society the anti-abortion movement has been the dominant force in the Republican Party and captured
the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States Supreme Court, the US Senate and dominates
the Congress.
More Extreme Activists Ride Anti-Abortions Coat Tails
It is no wonder that elements of the American hard right have gravitated to the power and energy
that the anti-abortion movement has injected into our social fabric. Whether or not they care
about abortion, they are astute enough to use the abortion controversy to promote their own
agenda, which has historically focused more on issues like race and immigration, to recruit new
members.
So, here in Great Falls it is not surprising to see hard right activists capitalizing on this
controversy. Caleb Oriet, Director of the Montana Chapter of the American Populist Union, a
home schooler from Highwood who has graduated into right-wing activism was quoted in the
Tribune story. The Tribune published a picture of Oriet standing on a corner in front of Planned
Parenthood holding an American flag over his shoulder and gun on his hip. He told the reporter
that the American Populist Union is a conservative group that encourages young people to take a
more active role in public policy. Like Karlin of Montana Right to Life, he said that pro-choice
advocates have been responsible for violence, referencing a group called Jane’s Revenge,
allegedly a group of pro-choice advocates engaging in violent acts across the country (See quote).
Jane’s Revenge emerged this spring following the leaking of the Supreme Court’s proposed
decision on Roe v Wade. It is an anonymous blog which publishes pieces calling for retaliation
against abortion opponents. It apparently has no organizational structure or public face. The blog
has claimed credit for some destruction of property directed at abortion foe facilities. National
pro-choice groups and active abortion rights supporters have refused to even acknowledge Jane’s
Revenge let alone endorse its actions and rhetoric. But anti-choice activists are using it as a straw
man to characterize the pro-choice movement similar to the far right’s creation of Antifa to
marginalize anti-racist activism. The pro-choice movement’s lack of support for Jane’s Revenge
stands in stark contrast to the anti-abortion movement’s wink and nod to the groups and
individuals behind clinic violence.
Box on Jane’s Revent
Oriet’s group, the American Populist Union, views itself as a Generation Z (born between
1997and 2012) conservative vanguard patterned on the Goyper movement which emerged in 2019. Both the Goypers and the American Populist Union announced themselves at the
conservative student conference, Turning Point USA, held in Florida, the Goypers in 2019 and
the American Populist Union in 2021. Right wing monitoring group, Political Research
Associates, describes the American Populist Union as, “college-age or younger leaders, followers, and movement personalities (who) slander feminism and movements for LGBTQ
rights and visibility as degenerate, argue for a moratorium on all immigration and a non-
interventionist foreign policy, and view themselves as victimized by ‘anti-White hatred’ endemic
across popular culture.”
The story of the Great Falls far-right anti-abortion movement could have been any corner of the
U.S. From the extremes like the American Populist Union, to the relentless activism of Right to
Life Montana, to the GOP elected officials representing the Electric City – the march to the hard
right and away from democracy is on.
–KT
by Jasmine Taylor | May 8, 2022 | Abortions Rights
When we decided to start a local blog, I was picturing elections, levies, crime, maybe some local art reviews. I didn’t anticipate getting as micro as discussing my uterus, but here we are. Today, we’re going to talk about my abortion. Some folks reading will call me a murderer and say I’m going to Hell. Honestly, I’ve heard all that before and those threats fall pretty flat when you’re talking to an Atheist. (Notably, those folks also think Queer people are an abomination, and I’ll go to Hell for having sex with women. You just can’t please some people, huh?)
So, let’s get started. Picture it. Somewhere around April or May 2012, I don’t remember the date exactly, but I think I was 23. I was pregnant and I didn’t want to be. I understand plenty of people want to know a little more than that. Was I on birth control? (Nope, had just stopped a 6-year stint as it made me sick). Was I married? (Not at the time, but the father would eventually be my husband). But really, none of that matters. What mattered is that I didn’t want to be pregnant, and I would have gnawed my own arm off if that’s what it took to not be pregnant anymore.
If you haven’t experienced an unwanted pregnancy, it’s easy to downplay the enormity of it. The feeling of an alien object inside your body that doesn’t bring any degree of joy- only panic, desperation, and fear. Pregnancy severely and permanently alters your body. For me, that meant being so incredibly sick and exhausted that I lost 10lbs in a month and could barely summon the energy to go to work.
From the moment I saw that positive test, I knew I wanted an abortion. However, my Catholic roots (although long abandoned when I came out as Queer) made me terrified. I knew I would go through with the abortion, but I fully anticipated feeling all-consuming guilt for the rest of my life. Still, it was better than the alternative.
After several hoops, both financial and medical, I was able to have a medication abortion. This means I was given medication that induced miscarriage. I took the pills, went home, and had a miscarriage alone in the bathroom. It was excruciating physically, and I was in no way prepared for the pain. But as soon as it was over, I was flooded with relief. And that guilt? It never came. Rather than feeling like my life had been permanently altered for the worse, I felt thankful. Thankful to not be pregnant. Thankful to have control over my body again.
Ten years on, and I’ve never questioned my decision for a moment. I still don’t want children, and I was absolutely right not to bring an unwanted child into the world. When talking about my abortion, I often feel compelled to list all the things I’ve accomplished since then. All the reasons why I am worthy of living my own life. But really, I don’t have to prove why my own life is worth saving. The fact is, I would have died rather than stay pregnant. I would have thrown myself down the stairs. I would have gone to a back alley. If that didn’t work, I would have killed myself.
My life is worth more than the possibility of a child. My life is worth more than a clump of cells I passed in the bathroom. My body is my own, and I alone should be making decisions about it. Sex is not just for procreation. For me, it will never be for that purpose. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have sex, nor does it mean I should be forced to give birth as a “consequence” for having a sex life.
The idea that a woman owes her body to anything, let alone a zygote or a fetus, is utterly insane. The folks calling me a murderer don’t give a single fuck for babies after they are born. They aren’t supporting universal healthcare, or taking in foster kids, or working to end poverty. They simply want to impose their skewed religious views on all of us, and most of all, they want to exercise control over people with uteruses. As I said, I don’t believe in Hell at all, but if it does exist, it’s not the pro-choice crowd that deserves to burn.
by Helena Lovick | May 5, 2022 | Abortions Rights, Elections
After the leaked draft Supreme Court decision overthrowing Roe v. Wade, you might be thinking, “What the hell can I do? My country hates people with uteruses and doesn’t want us to have control over our own bodies!” And…you’re not wrong. We give corpses more bodily autonomy than a post-Roe America.
As we continue to protest and put pressure on our elected officials, local politics are our greatest hope to keep abortion legal in Montana. But only if we vote for an entirely NEW slate of representatives.
What the Funk have current Great Falls Elected Representatives been doing to strip away our fundamental human rights?
Surprised Pikachu face, every single Republican legislator from Great Falls voted for a variety of anti-choice bills in 2021!
Let’s start with the poster child for forced-birth, Representative Lola Sheldon-Galloway. You might recognize Lola from her bench ads and posters with the acronym for Lola of “Leave Our Liberties Alone.” Bitterly ironic when Lola is coming to trample all over your right to make private medical decisions. Rep. Sheldon-Galloway has supported many anti-choice bills during her multiple stints in the legislature. In 2021, she giddily sponsored HB 136 to prohibits abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Your pregnancy is nonviable? Too bad, mama. You still have to remain pregnant, Mx. Incubator! Goody for us, HB 136 was signed into law by Governor Gianforte.
We’d be remiss to not mention one bill that didn’t get passed but is a telling roadmap of things to come. Representative Gillette (R-Bozeman) ultimately withdrew HB 209, which sought to give parental rights to rapists. Public outrage caused Gillette to backpedal, but the ideology remains the same – people with uteruses are incubators, not worthy of bodily autonomy.
What other anti-choice bills were passed in the 2021 session of the Montana Legislature thanks to our Republican governor?
HB 171 – A bill that adds substantial bureaucracy for people seeking a medication-induced abortion. These barriers make it harder for a woman to terminate in the first trimester. This is BY DESIGN. Make it hard to get a medication abortion, and then poof! You’re at 20 weeks and now your abortion is illegal.
And to round it off, HB 140. A bill with no provisions for victims of rape or incest, that requires medical providers to offer patients an active ultrasound with image and sound. The bill also requires the patient to sign a form saying they were offered said ultrasound and answer whether they chose to view it.
Every Republican legislator from Great Falls voted for the three anti-choice bills that were signed into law. Every. Single. One.
- Fred Anderson (HD-20)
- Ed Buttrey (HD-21)
- Brian Hoven (SD-13)
- Steve Fitzpatrick (SD-10)
- Steve Galloway (HD-24)
- Steve Gist (HD-25)
- Scot Kerns (HD-23)
- Wendy McKamey (HD-19)
- Lola Sheldon-Galloway (HD-22)
- Jeremy Trebas (HD-26)
These legislators are extremists who vote to take away people’s fundamental human rights. We have to combat the fall of Roe and it starts here at the State Legislature level. Our lives depend on it.
