Tim Sheehy, the Republican candidate seeking to unseat Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester and possibly give U.S. Senate control to the GOP, is campaigning on what he calls Tester’s and Democrats’ “extreme” position on abortion.
In a televised debate June 8, Sheehy accused Tester and Democrats of voting for “elective abortions up to and including the moment of birth.” That statement prompted Tester to respond: “To say we’re killing babies at 40 weeks is total BS.”
Sheehy has also made the accusation on his campaign website, which says, “Jon Tester supports elective abortion on demand up until the moment of birth. Think about that again: Jon Tester supports aborting a healthy, full-term baby the day before it’s due. That is the extreme position here.” Similar statements have been made in the campaign’s social media posts.
Painting the Democratic candidate with, in Sheehy’s words, an “extreme” position on abortion is a familiar conservative campaign strategy and campaign talking point this election cycle. But how does it hold up?
SOME RECENT HISTORY
Asked for evidence to support Sheehy’s accusations, Sheehy’s campaign spokesperson, Katie Martin, said the Republican candidate was referring to Tester’s vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act, which failed to pass the Senate in 2022. She cited the bill’s provisions that said health providers and patients would have the right to perform and receive abortion services without certain limitations or requirements impeding access.
Anti-abortion advocates say the measure, which has been reintroduced in the current Congress, would create a loophole eliminating any limits to aborting a fetus later in pregnancy. And, rather than define when a fetus is viable during pregnancy, the bill would leave the question of viability to the health provider, who is financially motivated to perform abortions, according to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a nonprofit group supporting anti-abortion candidates, including Sheehy.
“It would impose no-limits abortion on demand in all 50 states at any point in pregnancy,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America.
In 2022, the legislation failed two votes in the Senate before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision removed federal protections for abortion access and left the issue to the states to decide. Tester voted for the measure both times, but the bill failed to advance after votes of 46-48 and 49-51.
Alina Salganicoff, a KFF senior vice president and director of the nonprofit’s Women’s Health Policy Program, said nothing in the Women’s Health Protection Act supports an abortion up to the moment of birth. Rather, the legislation would allow a health provider to perform abortions without obstacles such as waiting periods, tests deemed medically unnecessary, unnecessary in-person visits, or other restrictions imposed by states.
