Quist, Gianforte differ broadly on women’s health issues

BILLINGS - U.S. House candidates Rob Quist and Greg Gianforte differ sharply on laws affecting women’s health care, particularly abortion.

The candidates outlined their differences for Lee Montana Newspapers this week, particularly on whether abortion without government inference - a right protected by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution - could still be changed. Both candidates then discussed federal funding of Planned Parenthood and federal health care policy affecting women.

Quist, a Democrat, and Gianforte, a Republican, are vying for Montana’s only U.S. House seat. Voting is underway and ends May 25. Libertarian Mark Wicks is also on the ballot.

Divided stances

“I am pro-life. We should have a culture that values life from conception to natural death,” Gianforte said. “We have an obligation to help the most vulnerable in our society who can’t help themselves. Science, faith and common sense compel us to the common understanding that life begins at conception, and should be protected. This is one of our most fundamental freedoms, the first one mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life.”

Quist said abortion is none of the government’s business.

“Politicians should not be in charge of making women’s health care decisions,” Quist said. “These kind of decisions should be made by women with their doctor, their family and their faith and without any government intrusion. This is a settled question, particularly in Montana, where our state constitution has an explicit right to privacy, which I strongly support.”

There is room, Gianforte said, for the federal government to place restrictions on abortions, namely by prohibiting the abortion when a fetus is developed enough to feel pain. Late-term and partial-birth abortions can be limited, he said.

“The United States is just one of seven countries that permits elective abortions more than halfway through pregnancy, beyond 20 weeks," Gianforte said. "Infants born premature at the age of 20 weeks are patients in neonatal intensive care units, proving their viability before our very eyes. In poll after poll, a clear majority of Americans support protecting unborn children after 20 weeks of gestation from abortion procedures, as science tells us that it is at this point that the baby can feel pain. Protecting unborn infants at this stage of life is a bipartisan position in this country and the accepted practice in other nations of the industrialized world.”

Quist said Congress shouldn’t meddle.

"My opponent has consistently put his own political ideology ahead of the health and safety of Montana women," Quist said."He even opposes abortion in cases of rape or incest. I believe abortion should be safe, legal and rare. Unlike my opponent, I trust women and their families to make their own health care decisions. He wants to roll back the clock and put the government in charge of women’s health care decisions.”

Federal funding

Last month, President Donald Trump signed a law allowing states to deny federal family planning funds to health clinics offering abortion. That means states could deny Title X funding for family planning services like contraception, fertility care and breast and cervical cancer screenings, if abortion was also provided.

Federal funding already was banned from paying for abortion. Federal courts have already struck down similar attempts to deny funding to clinics like Planned Parenthood in states like Florida and Utah. The candidates split on whether they supported the law.

“Tax dollars should not directly or indirectly subsidize abortions,” Gianforte said. “Title X funds were established in 1970 for family planning programs via grants to public and not-for-profit providers. Montana has 25 Title X providers, only five of which are Planned Parenthood. For example, we have 17 community health care centers that can provide all the same services as Planned Parenthood with the exception of abortions. Redirecting Title X funds to the scores of other clinics in Montana that are eligible for Title X tax dollars, such as our community health centers, will expand access to women’s health services.”

Quist said too many Montana women rely on Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions, to cut off funding.

"With regard to Planned Parenthood, in a rural state like Montana, leaders should be working to make sure we have more health care options, not fewer," Quist said. "Thousands of Montana women and men rely on Planned Parenthood for affordable primary care including contraception, family planning and cancer screenings, and defunding Planned Parenthood threatens Montanans' access to health care. Federal law already prohibits taxpayer dollars from being used for abortions, and we should not eliminate funding for preventative care, cancer screenings, and family planning, which helps reduce the number of abortions, simply because Planned Parenthood provides abortion services. That’s playing politics with critical women’s health care, and Montanans don’t tolerate those types of political games.”

Both candidates agreed that federally funded health care programs like Medicaid, the Military Health System and the Indian Health Service should offer contraceptives and maternity care.

“Yes, they should as they already do, because they are intended to cover large swaths of the population and not be competitive policies designed for individuals' needs," Gianforte said. "Though it's critical to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not pay for abortions. It is common sense for programs such as these to provide quality maternity care, which increases the likelihood of healthy and happy babies.”

Quist again said that contraception services reduce the number of abortions and should be covered by federal health care programs.

"We should increase women’s access to preventative health care, family planning and contraception services and maternity care in other federal programs like the military health system or Indian Health Service to the extent they are not already covered,” Quist said.

Equal rates

As Congress works to the repeal the Affordable Care Act, replacing it with a Republican plan, as the House did Thursday, lawmakers should not be charging different rates to men than women, the candidates said. However, Gianforte framed the same-rate argument in the context of same care.

“Just like we shouldn’t be denying health care to individuals with pre-existing conditions, we should not be charging different rates for men and women for the same care,” Gianforte said. “In any health care reform, we must give Montanans more options to choose the right health care plan that best fits their needs. We absolutely need to have health care plans that cover maternity services, and they need to be affordable. I believe more choice and competition will result in lower health care prices.”

Quist said the ACA had stopped insurance companies from setting rates and coverage limits based on pre-existing conditions. He would support changing those policies.

“As recently as a few years ago, insurance companies considered being a woman to be a pre-existing condition. That wasn’t right,” Quist said. “Yet my opponent wants to give insurance companies the power to do that again. Women should not pay more for health insurance just because of their gender, and I will not support any health care legislation allowing them to do so.”