Letter to the editor

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts."

It can be discouraging to see Washington DC sewer-style politics creep into Montana elections. Here we are, still eight months from November, and already there are fake news outlets in eastern Montana spreading outright falsehoods about bills in the 2019 legislative session.

Recently, one of these swampy websites accused me of voting for taxpayer funded abortions. That's so outlandish, I at first thought it was a joke, but sadly to say, it was not.

Abortion is a deeply personal issue to most people, and I think we should respect differing viewpoints. That being said; I am strongly pro life. Always have been. I was given an A rating by the Montana Family Foundation, the strongest pro life association in Montana.

My accusers are long on innuendo and short on facts, but they might be referring to House Bill 658, the Medicaid Reform and Integrity Act. This bill reformed the medicaid expansion act passed by the 2015 legislature. Now, this was a hugely complex bill, one which I'll address in later pieces, but it in NO WAY effected the legality of, or payments for, abortion in Montana.

First of all, there is the Hyde amendment, originally passed by congress in 1976, and amended in 1993. This piece of legislation prohibits any medicaid funding for abortion with the exception of rape, incest, or direct threat to the life of the mother.

Even more relevant, traditional medicaid was already covering pregnant women up to 150% of federal poverty level. The 2019 medicaid reform act only effected people making under 138% of federal poverty level. In other words, the 2019 bill HAD NO EFFECT on the number of pregnant women covered by medicaid.

Winston Churchill said "democracy is the worst form of government; except for all the rest, and he was right. In this age of hyper partisanship, we all must be more vigilant and skeptical about where we get our news. There are just too many sleazy spin factories out there that are more concerned with slinging mud than being honest. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you'd like to talk more about this, or any other issue. [email protected]

Thank you for allowing me to represent you in Helena.