Montana Republican Tim Sheehy dodges question on abortion rights

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy refused to say last month if he would support the restoration of federal abortion rights.

Sheehy is running in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Montana. If he wins the nomination, he’ll challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester in the general election.

In a video shared exclusively with the American Journal News, a voter can be seen approaching Sheehy at a public event and asking if he would vote to reinstate Roe v. Wade. Sheehy initially acknowledges the voter before turning his back to them when the question is asked. The voter repeats the question two more times but Sheehy does not respond.

Sheehy has expressed anti-abortion views in the past. In an April 2023 radio interview, he compared abortion to murder.

“It’s really frustrating how, you know, we have one party in this country that seems to be bent on murdering our unborn children and taking that, taking that tack, you know, in a very militant way,” Sheehy said. 

Sheehy has been endorsed by the prominent anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. The group has pledged to only back candidates who support a national abortion ban.

Sheehy’s caginess draws a distinction with Tester. In March 2023, Tester cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would create a federal right for a patient to access an abortion and for a medical professional to provide one.The bill has not received a vote.

“51 years ago, Roe v. Wade ruled that women have a constitutional right to make their own reproductive health care decisions. That freedom is no longer a guarantee,” Tester wrote on the social media platform X. “I promise you this: I will never stop fighting to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and codify Roe.”

President Joe Biden has pledged to reinstate Roe v. Wade, but acknowledged during his March 7 State of the Union address that doing so would be impossible without a Democratic-controlled congress.

“If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again,” Biden said. 

A Sheehy spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions for this story.