Letter to the Editor - How long till Montana follows Texas

Editor,

How ironic: The US Supreme Court just allowed a law passed by Texas Republicans that effectively bans abortion while Republicans in Montana have been chanting, “My body, my choice,” in protests against vaccine and mask mandates. But then again, the trademark of Trump’s party is shameless hypocrisy.

The Texas ban is diabolically dystopian, a nightmare much like Margaret Atwood imagined in her novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Instead of the state of Texas enforcing the ban, the law deputizes zealots, letting them sue anyone who helps a woman get an abortion, starting with her doctor, but including everyone who helps her--her family,  her friends, or even her Uber driver. The law does not exempt rape, abuse, or incest, and so, just when a woman is most desperate, it destroys her support system.

Perhaps not even the Taliban could produce a law more hostile to women, more cruel or sadistic. Trump stacked the Supreme Court with a man credibly accused of rape, Brett Kavanaugh, and a woman who literally held the title “handmaid” in a religious cult called “People of Praise,” Amy Coney Barrett. And so, now that the Supreme Court has signaled it will overturn Roe v. Wade, how long do we have before Gov. Greg Gianforte and our Republican-controlled legislature turn Montana into a misogynist dystopia?

Don’t give them a chance! Vote all Republicans out of office.

Wade Sikorski

Baker