Ryan Zinke’s extreme anti-abortion record is in the spotlight after he voted to restrict access to abortion nationwide – despite lying to voters on the campaign trail by saying reproductive freedom should be a “Montana decision.”
This isn’t his first attack on abortion rights this Congress. Zinke co-sponsored legislation that would ban federally funded health insurance coverage for abortions, including plans sold on the health care exchange. He also voted for legislation that would punish doctors for providing abortion care and voted to block consideration of a bill to codify Roe v. Wade.
DCCC Spokesperson Mallory Payne:
“Ryan Zinke lied to Montana voters and pretended he wasn’t a threat to their reproductive freedom but now, the truth is crystal clear: he’s laying the groundwork for a national abortion ban.”
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) voted on Thursday to restrict access to abortion medication nationwide, a move that contradicts his past assertion that abortion policy should be determined by the states.
In 2022, Zinke told the Montana Independent Record that abortion is “a Montana decision” and that he supported Montana’s law that bans abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation.
However, Zinke is one of 191 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted to make it harder to access the abortion drug mifepristone.
Zinke’s vote on Thursday would create nationwide abortion restrictions, forcing those seeking medication abortions to get mifepristone in person, adding another layer of difficulty to abortion care access even in states where it remains legal.
It’s not the first time Zinke has contradicted his position that abortion should be a state issue.
A Pew Research Center poll on abortion in all 50 states found that a majority of Montanans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Just 38% of Montanans support making abortion illegal in all or most cases.
