{"id":40542,"date":"2024-09-06T20:13:51","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T00:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=40542"},"modified":"2024-09-06T20:13:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T00:13:52","slug":"daily-montanan-jon-tester-focuses-on-reproductive-rights-on-campaign-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/09\/06\/daily-montanan-jon-tester-focuses-on-reproductive-rights-on-campaign-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Montanan: Jon Tester focuses on reproductive rights on campaign trail"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Jon<\/a>
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester speaks to a crowd of supporters in Bozeman, Montana on September 5, 2024, with Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson standing to the right. Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan<\/figcaption>\r\n
Tester, Planned Parenthood leader rally in Bozeman for reproductive freedom<\/div>\r\n
Tester: Being a Montanan, means having freedom<\/div>\r\n
Friday, September 6, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Darrell Ehrlick, Daily Montanan<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>

BOZEMAN \u2014 The leader of America\u2019s most recognizable reproductive rights organization is in Montana campaigning for an initiative to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution, but she has a message for the Treasure State.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re here for freedom so we can decide on abortion, and we want to send Jon Tester back to the Senate so that he can do that for all of us,\u201d said Alexis McGill Johnson, the CEO of Planned Parenthood, calling Tester one of the smartest, sharpest thought-partners in the fight for reproductive freedom. \u201cWe are so proud of him, and we know he is an effective bipartisan leader. We\u2019re going to work like hell to send Jon Tester back to the Senate.\u201d<\/p>

Tester\u2019s race is one of the highest profile races in the country because of the slim margin Democrats have in the U.S. Senate, because the Democratic Senators up for election face a much steeper challenge than Republicans in their respective states, and because Montana\u2019s junior Senator, Steve Daines, is leading the Senate\u2019s re-election efforts for Republicans. Bozeman is also the home of Daines, Tester\u2019s challenger, Tim Sheehy, as well as another state Republican leader, Gov. Greg Gianforte.<\/p>

On Thursday, supporters of both the ballot issue, Constitutional Initiative 128<\/a>, and Tester rallied in Bozeman at an event aimed to recruit more volunteers and increase outreach as the three-term incumbent senator has fallen behind in recent polling<\/a>.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ve never had a wide margin, and we won\u2019t have one in this race either,\u201d Tester said, acknowledging the tight race with just 60 days left before election. \u201cI don\u2019t expect the election to be called on election night, which is going to be fine as long as I win.\u201d<\/p>

Tester campaign staff held the event in the literal backyard of his opponent. Sheehy is a Bozeman-based businessman who has recently come under fire for several scandals, including characterizing Crow people as \u201cdrunk Indians\u201d<\/a> and amid questions surrounding his business dealings<\/a>. But at the Thursday night rally, both McGill Johnson and Tester took aim at Sheehy\u2019s comments on reproductive rights.<\/p>

In a recently released recording<\/a>, Sheehy called abortion \u201csinful\u201d and said he wanted it to end \u201ctomorrow.\u201d<\/p>

The duo of Tester and McGill Johnson told supporters that their two causes, one a race for the U.S. Senate that could decide the balance of power there, and the second, an effort to enshrine the right to an abortion in the Constitution though the procedure is legal in Montana, are tied together. McGill Johnson said if the U.S. wants federal abortion protection, it\u2019s essential to re-elect Tester.<\/p>

\u201cThe road to reproductive freedom runs through the U.S. Senate and runs through Jon Tester,\u201d she said.<\/p>

She told the crowd of several hundred who were waving Tester signs and wearing signature pink shirts with slogans supporting reproductive freedom and abortion that keeping government out of the doctor\u2019s office is a message that should resonate well in Montana.<\/p>

\u201cAt no point during pregnancy does anyone believe that politicians are more capable of making those decisions than doctors and women,\u201d McGill Johnson said.<\/p>

She said that women are being put in critical, life-threatening situations because doctors fear prosecution for helping during a miscarriage.<\/p>

\u201cProviders are so afraid they\u2019ll be jailed that they\u2019re sending women into the parking lot until they get sepsis before they help,\u201d she said. \u201cMake no mistake, they\u2019re coming for IVF, for birth control and for no-fault divorce. This is about power and control.\u201d<\/p>

Tester tied abortion and freedom together in his remarks.<\/p>

\u201cIf there\u2019s one thing that makes a Montanan a Montanan, it\u2019s freedom. A couple of years ago, Roe was the law of the land. That decision (Dobbs vs. Jackson Women\u2019s Health) was the biggest loss of freedom in my lifetime and yours. It was buh-,\u201d Tester said, pausing for a moment. \u201cBaloney. It was baloney.\u201d<\/p>