Montana Senate Candidate Says We Need Abortion Bans to Protect the Next Albert Einstein, Michael Jordan

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), the only statewide elected Democrat in Montana, is in the fight of his political life against GOP nominee Tim Sheehy. Sheehy is a wealthy businessman and former Navy SEAL who—*takes deep breath*—vehemently opposes abortion, allegedly plagiarized sections of his memoir, lied about the circumstances under which he got shot in the arm, remarked last year that Native Americans were drunks, and compared Tester criticizing him to being falsely accused of rape. The race shouldn’t be close, but Sheehy is leading by as much as eight points in recent polls.

The candidates faced off in their second debate on Monday night and, boy, did Sheehy make condescending comments about abortion.

Montana voters will decide whether to adopt Constitutional Initiative 28, a ballot measure that would protect the right to abortion until viability in the state constitution. Sheehy claimed he would respect the will of the voters, then spouted some nonsense. “If this particular initiative should pass, it’s the law of the land, and certainly, I’ll respect it,” Sheehy said. “But the reality is, at some point, we have to protect the life of the child. He could be the next Albert Einstein, the next Michael Jordan, the next Jon Tester for all we know.”

Montana Senate debate — do the two candidates believe there should be a national abortion standard?

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Tim Sheehy (R): “At some point when there’s another viable life included, that life also has the right to protection… Common sense life legislation is what I support… At some… pic.twitter.com/Z37teNgL0y

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 1, 2024

Couple of things here. One, it’s quite telling that a right-wing male politician invoked a male scientist and a male athlete rather than considering that a woman denied an abortion could have become the next Marie Curie or Katalin Kariko, or the next Diana Taurasi or A’ja Wilson, had the pregnancy she was forced to continue not derailed her plans. It’s almost as if women’s professional achievements don’t matter to him!

And two: Sheehy’s purported “respect” for that ballot measure could be undermined with a few crucial votes in the Senate. If Trump wins, would Sheehy support a nominee for Attorney General who supports enforcing the Comstock Act, which could ban abortion pills nationwide? Would he vote for Trump’s judicial nominees who could uphold a national abortion ban that overrides any state laws? Those are questions I would have asked as moderator.

But Tester himself questioned how sincere Sheehy’s stated position is given what he’s previously said about abortion. “The bottom line is this: Whose decision is it to be made?” he said. “Is it the federal government’s decision, the state government’s decision, Tim Sheehy’s decision, Jon Tester’s decision? No, it’s the woman’s decision. Tim Sheehy’s called abortion ‘terrible’ and ‘murder.’ That doesn’t sound to me like he’s supporting the woman to make that decision.”

Tester added: “Women should be able to make their own health care decisions. It shouldn’t be the federal government, a bureaucrat or a judge. Women should. That’s what Montanans like.”

This race may decide control of the Senate. Montanans: vote accordingly.