Voices: I trust Whitney Williams to stand up for women’s rights, essential care

Let’s talk about essential care. In a time where our healthcare system is being pushed to its limits, it’s important that we remember what “essential care” actually means.

According to the “US National Library of Medicine,” essential care can be defined as: individual health care, family health care and community health care.

While states like Texas and Ohio have used the pandemic as an opportunity to strip women of their essential care rights through the restriction of abortion access, it is essential that we stand up for women’s constitutional rights everywhere.

Abortion care isn’t something that can be put off or delayed. It is not something that can wait months or even weeks.  It is essential and time-sensitive for the health of pregnant women, and the health of communities everywhere. A woman's bodily autonomy does not end in times of crisis.

While Montana hasn’t restricted abortion access in this time of crisis, we find ourselves one signature away from becoming the next abortion battleground state. On one hand, I find myself extremely grateful for Governor Bullock’s decision to stand with women, but on the other hand, I find myself weary of the prospects of a republican governor come 2021.

We can’t let the Governor’s office turn red, and there is only one candidate that can stop it from happening — Whitney Williams. As a young woman, Whitney is the only candidate that I can undoubtedly trust to stand up for every woman in the state.