Montanan’s constitutional right to privacy worth fighting for
Medical access in Montana is limited, especially in rural parts of the state and on reservations.
Abortion is a medical procedure. Sexual health care access is important for all Montanas and part of what makes access to health care in rural communities vitally important.
When we start limiting access to health care in Montana, our marginalized communities are pushed off the cliff with few options. Limits on what types of health care remain available will close rural health centers.
We are living in a time where we must support and find ways to expand health care in Montana, not limit it. Criminalizing women or medical professionals for making complicated decisions is ridiculous and will lead to all kinds of unintended consequences including putting the lives of women in danger. The mere discussion of punishment makes it harder to recruit doctors and nurses into the medical field.
In Montana, imposing these limits would require abolishing our Constitutionally protected right to privacy so that the state can regulate women. This is backward thinking, and a waste of time when we have other pending issues like population growth and economic opportunities which require our attention.
In Montana, our Constitution protects women’s right to privately make medical decisions over their own bodies. The Montana Constitution protects all of our rights to make our own medical decisions - and a whole lot more.
This is the same document that guarantees our private choice in regards to vaccines, masks and intimate surgery. This is also the clause that has slowed the prevalence of police traffic cameras and ensures the option to not to have a Real ID in Montana.
Our fundamental right to privacy is in our Montana DNA. Privacy is a Montana value worth protecting - worth fighting for. So I stand with the Montana Constitution and Montanan women to protect everybody’s privacy.
We should not consider legislative challenges to our privacy or to amend the state constitution so that abortion restrictions can be passed. A certain faction of the Republican Party is proposing that the Montana Constitution be rewritten in order to remove our right to privacy which is down-right un-Montanan!
Those who call the Montana Constitution a “socialist rag” are proposing to eliminate our fundamental rights so that they can dictate our medical care, our private choices and our right to manage our own lives and families.
The government does not need to be in our private business, but should trust Montanans to make practical decisions after considering all options, consequences and risks. I trust Montanans to make their own medical decisions and will oppose efforts to take away every Montanan’s right to privacy.
Kyle Waterman is the Democrat candidate for Montana's Senate District 4. He lives in Kalispell.