by Robin Sertell, Hamilton
In response to “Sertell Was Not Truthful” (Toddy Perryman, August 13th), Perryman accuses me of lying about where the money behind CI-128 is coming from. Now, all campaign finance information is available for the public to see, yet Perryman didn’t apparently want to look that up, and resorted to calling me a liar, instead. I take great comfort in that accusation, as Churchill said, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” I’ll stand on the facts, and take great pride in the accusation, thanks very much.
While the original submission I’d given to the Bitterroot Star was properly cited with links to the supporting info, unfortunately, they did not include those in published version. Instead of resorting to toddler-esqe name-calling, I’ll take this opportunity to spell out the truth for you, and Perryman.
The original quote from “Don’t California Our Montana” that Perryman refers to as a “big lie” is as follows, “First, if Montanans really want this, then why is there so much out-of-state money and effort involved? In a recent article, News Nation Now reports that, “Planned Parenthood will spend $40 million ahead of November’s elections to bolster President Joe Biden and leading congressional Democrats. It will initially target eight states: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Montana, New Hampshire and New York.” You read that right – FORTY MILLION DOLLARS! I went back to the July 12 th News Nation Now article I had quoted here, and I don’t see Toddy accusing Anna Kutz, the author of the article, of lying. Is that because this is primarily a left-leaning publication, so birds-of-a-feather are flocking together? Why won’t Perryman address the fact that millions of out-of-state dollars are flooding in to our state to fund the killing of the innocent?
That fact, probably inconvenient for Toddy to deal with, given her mention of her past, “When I was young and poor, I relied on them to provide health care. It was the only health care I could afford.” She goes on to trot out the lie that Planned Parenthood is, “often the only provider available.” The truth is, there are thousands of pregnancy resource centers across the country that provide care for women in need, every day – without ever killing anyone. Why does Perryman staunchly defend the killing centers, instead, even to the extent of lying, herself? She states that “Less than 3% of Planned Parenthood ‘s work involves abortion,” yet, by their own reports (see Planned Parenthood’s annual report 2022-2023, pg. 24), abortions make up 97.1% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy resolution services. Let’s look at the truth; Planned Parenthood kills enormous numbers of innocent human beings, and reports massive profits from doing so. However, in the original article, I also mentioned Gov. Pritzker of Illinois’ $500,000 donation to support the ballot measure in Montana, among other out-of-state donors. Perryman states that this is okay, because, as she states, “duh….it is a national issue.” Well, DUH – no, Toddy – this is not about a national law, this is about a proposed amendment to the Montana State Constitution. Perryman seems to have the two conflated.
Speaking of having facts confused, Perryman also seems confused as to what the term “healthcare” means. Simply defined, “healthcare” heals, “abortion” kills. It’s a simple matter of intent. In her article, Perryman states, “Montana doctors want to be able to provide a full range of options for all of their patients.” Doctors perform healthcare, and abortion is not healthcare. Abortionists, on the other hand, intentionally kill at least half of their patients; all the babies – and some of the mothers. Abortions are not performed by doctors alone; it’s a startling, but grave fact that most abortionists are not licensed medical doctors. But, maybe Perryman isn’t aware of that. Maybe these are all just things Perryman was confused about. Such as her closing statement that “We don’t want anyone forcing us to make choices based on the religious convictions of others.” No one is forcing anyone to make choices based on religious convictions, Toddy. The scientific fact is that when an egg is fertilized by sperm, a person is formed. A new, separate and distinct person, with their own, unique DNA. So, let’s stick to the facts, shall we?
Or, are they too inconvenient? The fact is, CI-128 is not something proposed by Montanans. It’s not funded by Montanans, and the signatures have yet to be verified. In fact, those signatures were gathered by people from all over the country who were paid big bucks to come to Montana to canvass. Then, Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, the proponents of the measure, recently sued our Secretary of State in an unprecedented move, forcing her to accept inactive voters on the petitions, mandating that she break the law, in order to add enough signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot – but that’s a topic for another article. Perryman says, “Sertell seems to imply that Montanans don’t want this on the ballot, but the number of signatures gathered suggests this too is a lie.” No; the truth is, these were strong-arm tactics that wouldn’t have been necessary if “Montanans want this.” It’s an extreme measure that brings in out-of-state politics driven by out-of-state money. Vote NO on CI-128.