The abortion issue has taken center stage this week in Montana in the midst of a closely watched U.S. Senate race.
On Wednesday, the state’s supreme court invalidated as unconstitutional a law restricting abortion access for minors to those who obtained parental consent.
“No politician should be in the business of making health care decisions for women,” a spokesperson for Sen. Jon Tester replied 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 personal health care decisions.”
The farmer-turned-lawmaker faces a tough bid in the otherwise red state, and along with senators up for reelection in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia is seen as vulnerable in this cycle. Abortion, at the same time, remains likely the top social issue.
A spokesperson for Tim Sheehy, Tester’s Republican opponent, said the military veteran is dismayed by the court’s decision.
“As the father of four young children, including two young daughters, Tim is troubled by this decision that weakens parental rights and puts young girls at risk,” the Sheehy For Montana spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“This move by the Montana Supreme Court should concern every Montanan — parents absolutely should be a part of their child’s health care.”
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An abortion-rights demonstrator holds a sign during a rally, May 14, 2022, in Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP)
Montana’s Republican governor, meanwhile, delivered a strong response, tearing into the high court for striking down the state law requiring parental consent for minors to have abortions, while the state’s vulnerable Democratic senator hailed the decision, saying women should be able to make their own health care decisions.
“I’m deeply concerned and disappointed by today’s ruling from the Montana Supreme Court, which states parents do not have a fundamental right to oversee the medical care of their young daughters,” Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, said in response. “In its ruling, the Court has wielded its gavel like a hammer against one of the fundamental rights in our history: the right of parents to consent to the medical care of their minor children,” he added.
The ruling backed-up one from a lower court that ruled the law unconstitutional, as it pertains to the state-level founding document in particular.
U.S. Highway 89 is shown near Gardiner, Mont., on July 15, 2020. (Brett French/Billings Gazette via AP)
Associate Justice Laurie McKinnon, elected to the nonpartisan bench in 2012, wrote that minors enjoy a “fundamental right to privacy” the same way adults do.
“[That] includes procreative autonomy and making medical decisions affecting his or her bodily integrity and health in partnership with a chosen health care provider free from governmental interest.”
The ruling was unanimous, with Chief Justice Mike McGrath recusing himself from the case.
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President Biden gestures while speaking to Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester (Getty images)
Following the effective overturning of Roe v. Wade via the 2022 Dobbs decision before the U.S. Supreme Court, Tester had warned that ruling “means women and doctors will be put in jail when exercising this long-held right in states across the country.”
“For nearly 50 years, women have been able to make their own healthcare decisions without interference from the government… No judge or politician should be telling women how to live their lives or undermining their fundamental right to privacy,” Tester said.
The abortion issue has also caused political strife for moderates in key states, as well as in campaign politics – as former President Trump sought to distance himself from deep-red Alabama’s ruling in favor of the personhood of embryos.
Trump said in February he fully supports in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and urged Yellowhammer State lawmakers to protect the practice despite the ruling.
The Montana law, passed in 2013, was promptly challenged by Planned Parenthood and had been subject to a court injunction preventing its implementation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.