Under CI-128 premature babies are not viable and "unfit" to live

MCA 50-20-104 (6) (a): "Viability" means the ability of a fetus to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid.

CI-128: "Fetal viability" means the point in pregnancy when, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus's sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.

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The main argument of proponents of CI-128 is that "Montanans should have the freedom and right to decide what is best for their health and their family. Too often the government has tried to mandate what we can and can't do by controlling decisions around pregnancy that should be between women, families, and their health care providers. CI-128 defends our right to keep government out of our private decisions."

In reality, CI-128, with its current language, directly contradicts this message and, instead, enables buaracrats and activist physicians to make vital decisions for their patients while stripping them from any accountability for ill advice.

Comparing the text of CI-128 with the currently existing Montana abortion laws proves this.

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Thirty-two years ago, my twin children were born in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem in the 28th week of gestation. When they were born, they were too immature to regulate their body temperature and too weak to suck enough breast milk to survive without "extraordinary medical measures." Together with my twins in NICU, there were twins born in the 24th week of gestation and a baby who was born in the 21st week. These babies and all other newborns admitted to NICU couldn't survive "without the application of extraordinary medical measures."

According to Montana's current legal definition, such babies are "viable humans." According to the proposed CI-128, they are not "viable."

When my twins were three years old, I needed a consultation with a pediatric psychiatrist related to kindergarten options. During the consultation, the lady psychiatrist casually mentioned that twins (not only my twins, all twins) have so many psychological issues that "it's a pity their parents don't abort them." I don't know how common this opinion is in pediatric medicine, but it makes twins and triplets "unfit" for society.

Carrying a pregnancy with twins is physically and emotionally challenging. The first months and years of raising premature babies are exhausting, especially for families not rich enough to afford to pay for a helper. In cases like ours, "the compelling government interest" would be to terminate "non-viable" humans for my family's own good.

In the Montana Code Annotated 2023, "The legislature reaffirms the tradition of the state of Montana to protect every human life, whether unborn or aged, healthy or sick... It is the policy of the state to preserve and protect the lives of all human beings and to provide protection for the viable human life... The legislature finds that a compelling state interest exists in the protection of viable life."

The CI-128 nullifies this part of the law and instead puts the abortion provider's personal opinion of what "compelling state interest" is. Additionally, the initiative constitutionally nullifies the MCA-50-20-3, Woman's Right to Know, which obligates physicians to provide a woman with all the information she needs to make fully informed decisions and to

"reduce the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that the decision was not fully informed." MCA-50-20-302-(2) (c)

There is a tiny line between ensuring "a right to make and carry out decisions about one's own pregnancy" and enabling euthanasia of babies whom the state or a physician considers "infit" or "undeserved" to live.

Montana Code Annotated, as it is written now, is one of the most common-sense laws in the nation to ensure women's rights to carry or terminate their pregnancies and protect the lives of viable human beings. If Montanans vote for CI-128 with its current language, Montana will become the first state to enshrine eugenics into the State constitution.

Please educate yourself and others about the evil hidden in the text of the CI-128. The Left uses fear-mongering lies to brainwash women to vote for the initiative. If Montana voters are educated about this initiative, no one will vote for it.