By Dave Andrusko
Montana voters will decide in a referendum this fall whether to require medical care for “born-alive infants.”
The exact language is
“A born-alive infant, including an infant born in the course of an abortion, must be treated as a legal person under the laws of the state, with the same rights to medically appropriate and
NRLC’s Department of State Legislation reports that 36 states have enacted laws to protect babies born alive during an abortion.
The legislation’s purpose is to protect the life of any infant born alive following an abortion.
“When presenting the bill in the Montana Senate last year, Sen. Tom McGillvray said the current state law ‘basically says ‘don’t kill it.’ This bill says ‘save it.’ That’s the difference,” reported The Associated Press’s Amy Beth Hanson.
“Republican Rep. Matt Regier, the sponsor of the legislation, said Thursday the proposed referendum simply means that medical providers can’t intentionally take the life of an ‘independent, living, breathing infant,’” Hanson reported.
The bill that referred the measure to voters was passed before the June 24th Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade.
The federal “Born-Alive Infant Protection Act of 2002” only applies at federal facilities and those that receive federal funding.