As of Wednesday evening, the vote count was 52.55% opposing and 47.45% in favor.
The language of Montana's referendum reads:
"This Act legally protects born-alive infants by imposing criminal penalties on healthcare providers who do not act to preserve the life of such infants, including infants born during an attempted abortion. A born alive infant is entitled to medically appropriate care and treatment. A healthcare provider shall take medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life and health of a born-alive infant…A health care provider found guilty of failing to take medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve a born-alive infant’s life under this Act faces punishment of a fine up to $50,000 or imprisonment up to 20 years, or both."
Pro-abortion opponents of the referendum launched an advertising campaign claiming that this legislation would force physicians to take terminally-ill children out of their mothers' arms in an attempt to provide miraculously impossible care until they died. This is untrue. Such actions would not be considered "medically appropriate" or "reasonable."
Unfortunately, because the pro-abortion ad campaign was successful, no penalties will be levied against physicians who don't attempt to provide reasonable life-saving care to a child after birth.
