SB 406 as mentioned eariler, bad idea all around, got its ass kicked in the 2008 elections as CI100, is back. I was able to watch the hearing last night on TV.
Some very creepy proponents showed up. The woman who claimed that Obama could have been aborted was unable to attend, but sent her very overweight and very unshowered middle age son to deliver her message. Boy howdy was he disturbing. He also quoted Susan B. Anthony in trying to make a point that our feminist foremothers were "pro-life". The quote he delivered was basically saying that men are equally responsible for pregnancies as women and that women who are criminalized for ending pregnancies should share their guilt with men, this in a time where abortions were illegal. All in all, completely creepy. There was also the very elderly male doctor who rambled on about tissue harvest from abortions for stem cell research and to top it all off the balding man with the pony tail who held up photos from a hurricane and told the committee that "God is watching."
Ahhh. Anti-choicers say the darndest things.
Anyway, I would have LOVED to testify, but I could not, so I emailed my testimony to the members of the committee. Here it is. Feel free to do the same. I don't think they will take Executive Action for a couple days.
Senate Judiciary.
Senators Perry, Shockley, Curtiss, Esp, Hinkle, McGee, Murphy, Jent, Juneau, Larsen, Laslovich, and Moss:
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Connie. I was unable to attend yesterdays hearing on SB 406, but I was able to watch most of the hearing on TV last night.
I hope that you take the time to read my testimony included in this e-mail. Please share this e-mail with the three committee members that do not have e-mail accounts. Thank you.
Within the past year five of my good friends got pregnant, at the current time only two of them will give birth to babies this spring. That means that three of them lost their pregnancies to miscarriage. These women mean more to me than just acquaintances, I love them like they are sisters. The sorrow these women have faced in the wake of losing the pregnancies is indescribable.
It terrifies me that in the wake of passing a constitutional amendment as SB 406 defining life beginning at conception, these women could be investigated or even prosecuted after a miscarriage. During the 2007 Legislature, when former Rep. Jore sponsored the same bill, he stated on the floor of the house that he did, in fact, intend that HB 403, if passed could be used to investigate women in the cause of miscarriages.
Introducing the State into private medical decisions that should be between a woman and her doctor could be very dangerous to mothers and/or babies. Women, in fear of investigation or prosecution, may not report miscarriages or pregnancy complications to their doctors and miss out on critical medical care.
Miscarriages are very common, anywhere from 10-25% of pregnancies will end in miscarriage, 1 in 3 women will miscarry at some time in their lives. There are so many things that can go wrong with a pregnancy, and at those difficult times, women must feel safe to make the decisions that are best for them and their families with their doctor. Politicians like Rick Jore and Senator McGee have no business policing pregnancy. Pregnant women are not criminals.
Additionally I oppose this bill because of it could be used to ban abortion in Montana, which is basic health care for some women, but also because SB 406 has far reaching implications into invitro fertilization and access to certain forms of birth control.
I grew up in Montana, and I know that Montanans value freedom and privacy, and we also value our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends. And we don’t think the government should be making personal private medical decisions for us.
To answer Senator Hinkle’s question about why we would oppose putting this constitutional amendment in front of the voters of Montana, my answer would be this, Rick Jore did put this amendment in front of Montana voters, and it failed to get enough signatures to make it on the ballot, in fact it didn’t even come close. Additionally it failed to pass in the 2007 Legislature, the people who represent the interests of the citizens of Montana. The people of Montana have made it clear that they would not support this constitutional amendment.
I encourage you to reflect on the women in your lives and that you represent that have had miscarriages or difficult pregnancies and vote do not pass on SB 406.
Connie
I live in Helena, MT 59601
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