Flathead physicians voice opposition to abortion restrictions in letter to governor

Jun. 23—Physicians from the Flathead Valley were among the more than 100 medical professionals across Montana who signed a letter calling on Gov. Greg Gianforte and the state Legislature to stop their attempts to restrict access to abortion.

The letter announced on Thursday was backed by citizen advocacy group the Committee to Protect Health Care, and comes a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade. The landmark case guaranteed federal rights to abortion for nearly 50 years.

Montana is among the majority of states that enacted some kind of abortion restrictions following the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization last June.

During an online press conference Thursday, Whitefish emergency physician Dr. Emily Fleming said she believes abortion restrictions and bans are dangerous for both patients and health care providers.

"Breaking such laws wouldn't be an easy choice for doctors, people with families. I myself have young children and in a situation such as a patient bleeding out with an ectopic pregnancy, I would have to consider risking jail time and being taken away from my family just for providing life-saving care," Fleming said.

Dr. Kelly Berkram is a family medicine physician in Kalispell. She said she's been watching "horror stories" come out of states where abortion has effectively been restricted or banned. She cited a lawsuit in Texas, where 13 women are suing the state for medical complications they sustained after being denied an abortion.

"Women are being forced to put their fertility, health and very lives on the line because of the views of a few extremist politicians ... We don't have to accept this in Montana. Doctors don't want politicians or judges in our exam rooms, period, and Montanans don't either," Berkram said at the press conference.

During the 2023 legislative session a multitude of bills were filed relating to abortion in Montana. Among those that passed include House Bill 721 and House Bill 575, which within days of being signed were blocked by Helena District Court Judge Mike Menahan after a legal complaint filed by Planned Parenthood Montana.

In addition, all three of Montana's abortion clinics are suing the state's efforts to curb Medicaid coverage for abortions — which is laid out in laws passed and also in a rule change from the state health department, which would require physicians to have pre-approval form the state to ensure abortions they perform are "medically necessary," as reported by the Montana Free Press.

Abortion remains legal in Montana while the courts decide the constitutionality of the rule change and recently signed laws. But, Berkram and Fleming said they are feeling the effects from the politics of it all.

Fleming has not had to come across any situations where a patient's life was at risk, where she or other doctors were not able to perform their jobs, but she has spent time discussing plans with fellow physicians about what they will need to do if that happens under one of these laws.

"There has been some pretty touchy conversations that I've had to have with my OBGYN consultants and fellow specialists as we kind of develop contingency plans and continue to try to present a united front to our patients to combat any misinformation they might be hearing about their rights to access abortion," Fleming said.

Berkram said it's also confusing for her patients. She said she believes it's harder for people to even talk about abortion during their appointments.

"I could certainly have been involved in situations where maybe somebody didn't know if they could ask me about what they should do for their medical care because they weren't sure what my political leanings were," Berkram said.

The letter cites a recent poll from Middle Fork Strategies based in Helena that shows that six in 10 Montana voters say abortion should be legal in many or all circumstances.

In previous statements regarding the attempts to block abortion access in Montana, Gianforte reinforced his anti-abortion stance on the matter.

"Our Declaration of Independence clearly states that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," Gianforte said. "But without life, there is no liberty or the pursuit of happiness."

But, Fleming and other Montana women believe restricting access to abortion poses an attack on their unalienable rights.

"It feels like a direct attack on my personal autonomy as a human. I have a young daughter and I worry what the future is going to look like for her ability to execute her own decisions about her bodily autonomy," Fleming said. "There's not a similar threat for my son, and that is angering and devastating."

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com

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