Here’s another for you. This time, from Montana:
In a televised debate June 8, Sheehy accused Tester and Democrats of voting for "elective abortions up to and including the moment of birth." That statement prompted Tester to respond: "To say we're killing babies at 40 weeks is total BS."
Sheehy has made this accusation on his campaign website, which says, "Jon Tester supports elective abortion on demand up until the moment of birth. Think about that again: Jon Tester supports aborting a healthy, full-term baby the day before it's due. That is the extreme position here." Similar statements have been made in the campaign's social media posts.
Painting the Democratic candidate with, in Sheehy's words, an "extreme" position on abortion is a familiar conservative campaign strategy and campaign talking point this election cycle. But how does it hold up?
Asked for evidence to support Sheehy's accusations, Sheehy's campaign spokesperson, Katie Martin, said the Republican candidate was referring to Tester's vote for the Women's Health Protection Act, which failed to pass the Senate in 2022. She cited the bill's provisions that said health providers and patients would have the right to perform and receive abortion services without certain limitations or requirements impeding access.
Anti-abortion advocates say the measure, which has been reintroduced in the current Congress, would create a loophole eliminating any limits to aborting a fetus later in pregnancy. And, rather than define when a fetus is viable during pregnancy, the bill would leave the question of viability to the health provider, who is financially motivated to perform abortions, according to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a nonprofit group supporting anti-abortion candidates, including Sheehy.
"It would impose no-limits abortion on demand in all 50 states at any point in pregnancy," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America.
In 2022, the legislation failed two votes in the Senate before the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision removed federal protections for abortion access and left the issue to the states to decide. Tester voted for the measure both times, but the bill failed to advance after votes of 46-48 and 49-51.
Alina Salganicoff, a KFF senior vice president and director of the nonprofit's Women's Health Policy Program, said nothing in the Women's Health Protection Act supports an abortion up to the moment of birth. Rather, the legislation would allow a health provider to perform abortions without obstacles such as waiting periods, tests deemed medically unnecessary, unnecessary in-person visits, or other restrictions imposed by states.
The bill would explicitly allow an abortion after a fetus is viable when, according to the legislation, "in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient's life or health."
"This is not abortion on demand until the moment of birth," Salganicoff said. "Even if politicians and anti-abortion activists make this claim, there are no clinicians that provide 'abortions' moments before birth."
FYI:
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, the group behind the petition to get an amendment enshrining abortion access in the state constitution, accused the state Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday of inappropriately discarding signatures from registered, but inactive, voters and is threatening legal action.
But the Montana Secretary of State’s Office said the group is misreading the law and that a legal challenge would be misguided and slow down the validation process for county election administrators, who have just 10 days to finish doing so for Constitutional Initiative 128.
At issue is whether inactive, but registered, voters in Montana are considered to be “qualified electors” who are allowed to sign ballot petitions and when the Secretary of State’s “guidance” about inactive voters changed between administrations.
In Montana, a voter can be moved to being “inactive” by an election administrator if they failed to vote in the previous federal general election and failed to return a notice sent to them confirming their current address.
Yeah, this guy is another GOP serial liar running away from his past. At least he’s finally deciding to focus on the job he now wants but the timing is questionable:
Montana’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy resigned on Monday from his positions at the aerial firefighting and surveillance company he founded with his brother, saying Bridger Aerospace needs a fully engaged chief executive officer during this year’s fire season while he focuses on his run for office.
“This exceptional team deserves a fully focused CEO during its busy fire season. Now that I have won the primary election, it is appropriate for me to allow our leadership team to focus on their duties,” Sheehy said in a statement issued by the company. “I look forward to watching their continued success.”
Sheehy has said previously that he planned to resign from his positions as CEO, president, and a member of the board of directors for the Bozeman-based Bridger Aerospace if he is successful in his campaign against U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, in November. Senate rules would require him to do so.
But the firefighting company that Sheehy built following his career as a U.S. Navy SEAL has also been a key part of his campaign message and its effort to bolster Sheehy’s credentials as a businessman. Sheehy’s campaign released a video on social media Monday in which he discusses being a job-creator and aerial firefighter.
But the company reported concerns about its finances at the end of the year and is facing a lawsuit from two former employees who claim Sheehy and Bridger’s former parent company breached a contract involving stock compensation.
Back in May, I highlighted how much of a serial liar Sheey is in this diary. That seems to be the patterns with this crop of GOP candidates. Now here’s what a true blue Montana public servant looks like:
Health, Democracy and Freedom are on the ballot and we need to get ready to keep Tester in the Senate and protect abortion rights in Montana. Click below to donate and get involved with Tester’s re-election campaign and the Montana Democratic Party:
U.S. Senate
Jon Tester
U.S. House
Monica Tranel
Montana Supreme Court
Erin Farris-Olsen
State Party
Montana Democratic Party
