A Note from Our Executive Director, Stephanie
My name is Stephanie McDowell (she/her) and I am the Executive Director of Bridgercare. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to share with you a note about the political climate of reproductive healthcare in Montana.
It’s been a tumultuous few years. A little over 1.5 years ago, the federal Dobbs vs. Jackson decision sent a shockwave across the US, stripping access to abortion services for 25 MILLION people in 25 states. Here in MT during our legislative sessions, we see bill after bill attacking reproductive and sexual healthcare, bodily autonomy, & LGTBQ+ rights. And they aren’t likely to stop any time soon.
But I wanted to take a moment to zoom out and think about this moment in the context of a struggle for reproductive freedom that’s been waged for not just decades, but hundreds of years. I think of my Grandma Helen, who was born in 1920 and is now 104 years old. She lives in North Dakota, 1 mile from the Turtle Mountain Reservation and 5 miles from Canada.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about her life. All the steps forward and the steps backward that she’s witnessed. Just 5 months after my Grandma Helen was born, the US ratified the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. As a white woman, this was a win for my grandma, but for BIPOC women, including her indigenous neighbors on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, we know the right to vote faced many, many years of challenges that continue today.
My Grandma married my Grandpa Hector in 1940. They ran a farm together and my grandma was a teacher. Soon after they got married, they proceeded to crank out a baby every two years for ten years. Basically, my grandma’s only birth control was breastfeeding & fatigue.
Then, my grandfather was diagnosed with colon cancer. He went through treatment and recovered. I’ll never forget the day my Grandma Helen told us that she was relieved that he’d been sterilized by the cancer treatment, because it meant she would stop getting pregnant every other year.
In 1965, the Supreme Court ruled that married couples – JUST married couples – could have access to the birth control pill. This was 15 years after my grandmother needed it.
Five years later, in 1970, Congress established the federal Title X program – Bridgercare’s funding - which provides sliding fee scale family planning services to people across the US. 2 years later, in 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that single people could access birth control. (7 whole years after they said married people could.).
Then, one year later, in 1973, the Supreme Court handed down their ruling in Roe v Wade, guaranteeing the right to abortion access in the US. That was a big series of wins for reproductive rights, but as that was happening – reproductive violence was also happening.
Between 25% and 50% of Native American women were sterilized without their consent or knowledge in the 1st half of the 1970s, a practice that was exposed and banned in 1976. That same year in 1976, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funds from going toward abortion care – and it’s been a law ever since. This means that Indian Health Services (or IHS) can’t provide or pay for abortions. So, the combination of reservations’ isolation and IHS’s inability to provide abortions made the Roe v Wade ruling a privileged protection that failed to make a meaningful difference for most Native American people.
In the time between Hyde and Dobbs, states also chipped away at Roe, passing tighter and tighter restrictions barring people from accessing abortion care, until they were ultimately allowed to ban it outright following the Supreme Court’s disastrous 2022 decision.
That decision rippled across the country, and through Montana.
In the last two years, our movement has faced unprecedented challenges, but with your support, Bridgercare has risen to the challenge and grown to serve our community. When the state tried to attack Planned Parenthood by sabotaging our Monana Title X network of clinics, Bridgercare stepped in to win the Title X grant and cut the state out of the equation. That move protected the 23 clinics across MT that provide sliding fee scale reproductive and sexual health services.
When the state acted to restrict sex ed in Montana, preventing Bridgercare from working in the Bozeman Public Schools, we, yet again, got scrappy because we know that our kids need this education, even if it makes some white dudes in Helena squeamish.
So, we secured a federal grant to expand our ed program outside of the schools, bringing on more educators, and strengthening partnerships with organizations that serve young people.
And as Bozeman continues to grow, many in our community are struggling to keep their heads above water in an increasingly unforgiving local economy. More and more, we’re hearing from our patients about feelings of insecurity weighing on their mental health. More people in our community are struggling to pay rent. The need for quality, affordable reproductive and sexual health services has never been more crucial. And we are serving more people than ever!
In 2023 alone, Bridgercare served nearly 6000 patients, providing over $440,000 in free med services to people on our sliding fee scale, and none of this would be possible without all of you. We have been neglected & underfunded by the feds for a decade, and that’s not likely to change any time soon, but we know that we can count on our community to have our backs and support our work.
It is so encouraging to have good news to share in the reproductive healthcare space! After COVID, and the Dobbs decision, and the ongoing lack of support for this kind of care in Montana, YOU have made sure that Bridgercare stays strong and is able to serve everyone who walks through our doors, regardless of income, gender, or lived experience.
Against great odds, we have
Taken over a statewide program of 23 clinics.
Expanded our educational offerings.
Are serving more patients at a time when there is so much pushback against our work.
My Grandma Helen is 104 and is a great-grandmother to my 16-year-old daughter who is coming of age now in a post-Dobbs world. It’s been a hard few years, but I take comfort knowing that we’re part of a long line of supporters, activists, and allies who have been fighting this battle for generations.
In that time, we’ve taken steps forward, and we’ve taken steps backward, but we will never stop believing in a world where everyone has the freedom and knowledge to control their health and their bodies.