Montana
Protect reproductive choice in Montana
My name is Susan Cahill. I am a retired family practice physician assistant who provided first trimester abortions in Kalispell as part of family practice starting in 1976 until my office was destroyed in 2014.
I worked for and with Dr. James Armstrong for 25 years. Dr. Armstrong vowed to offer abortions as part of his family practice when and if it became legal, after witnessing women dying from illegal abortions daily while he was in medical training in New York City.
I made the same commitment as a first-year physician assistant student in Queens General Hospital in New York City, when I cared for young inner city girls, 10 and 11 years old in labor and screaming for their mothers, after having been raped by their stepfathers, or brothers or a family friend, when abortion was still not legal.
I am proud of my work. I am also proud of having been a small part of the signature gathering for CI-128, the, citizen’s initiative that will provide a constitutionally protected right to reproductive choice into the Montana Constitution.
Because of this bill you will hear lots of lies about abortion from those claiming the moral high ground, including our governor. So here are the facts:
Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures in the United States. 81% of all abortions occur at nine weeks of pregnancy or earlier. Of these, 63% are medication abortions, which use medicines to induce bleeding. It is like having a miscarriage and it can be done in the privacy of a woman’s own home.
94% of all abortions are done within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. 3% of abortions are done at 16-20 weeks, and 0.9% are done 21 weeks or more. These late term abortions are done due to severe fetal anomaly or threats to the life of the mother. All of these procedures are done because of the expressed wishes of the woman, and her family if that is her situation. Every abortion decision is as individual as the woman.
I have known women who have picketed my office because I offer abortion services, then come to me for an abortion when they found themselves in a challenging situation in their life. I understand this. Life is hard, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness is essential and personal. In our hearts, we all know this to be true.
Because of the radicalization of the Republican Party, not only is abortion under attack but also access to IVF and contraception. The ability to make decisions for ourselves and our life keep getting more difficult.
Not a single Republican candidate in Montana and at the national level will stand up and vote to protect women’s choice.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Jon Tester and Monica Tranell have all committed to protecting a women’s right to reproductive choice. Please vote this fall for women and families to have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for themselves and their families. Please vote for choice.
Susan Cahill is a retired family practice physician assistant. She lives in Kalispell.
Montana
Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) – joined by Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and 22 other Members of Congress – sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons calling for the immediate closure of Camp East Montana in El Paso. They cite urgent humanitarian concerns following multiple deaths in custody, documented unsafe conditions, and serious deficiencies in medical care.
This marks the fourth letter Congresswoman Escobar has sent to DHS and ICE leadership. The previous three letters have gone unanswered.
The letter can be found in its entirety below and here.
“Secretary Noem and Acting Director Lyons:
We are urgently calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to shut down Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas.
Camp East Montana has been operational for six months, and at least three people have died at the site since December 2025: Francisco Gaspar-Andres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, and Victor Manuel Diaz. The El Paso County Medical Examiner has officially ruled Lunas Campos’ death a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”
Camp East Montana was constructed in a matter of weeks and opened before construction was complete and it does not have enough federal staff on-site to provide adequate oversight. Over the last several months, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, in whose district this facility is located, has sent multiple letters to DHS and ICE regarding concerns about the conditions at Camp East Montana, and has received no responses.
According to detainees, there have been constant and consistent problems at the facility since it opened, beginning with the facility’s poor construction and poor ambient temperature control. Upon opening, the drinking water at Camp East Montana tasted foul and made some detainees sick. Detainees continue to be served inadequate meals, including food that is rotten or frozen; last fall, the facility was also consistently failing to make dietary accommodations for detainees. Detainees have shared that they have sporadic access to outside spaces and recreational areas, and that their dormitory pods are cleaned only once every eight days, despite pods housing up to 72 people at a time. Laundry services are not consistent, and people are washing their clothes in the facility showers. Additionally, the facility experiences flooding and sewage backups when it rains, leading to stagnant water.
One of the biggest concerns with the Camp East Montana facility is the inadequate medical care being provided to detainees. Our offices have heard that only the most ill detainees are referred to the medical unit and that there are inconsistencies as to how soon after arriving detainees are able to undergo initial medical screenings. Detainees with chronic health issues who rely on regimented medications for their health have had difficulty accessing necessary medications, including blood pressure medication and insulin.
At least one of the deaths that occurred in ICE custody, the death of Francisco Gaspar-Andres, appears to partially be the result of poor medical care by staff at the facility. According to ICE’s own account, Gaspar-Andres sought medical attention from facility staff for increasingly serious symptoms, but was only transferred to an area hospital once his condition had severely deteriorated.
In addition to our concerns about poor medical care, we are also aware that detainees have experienced irregular access to their legal counsel, including instances of detainees having only two minutes allotted per phone call every 8 days, which is contrary to ICE’s Detention Standards on access to counsel, and that the belatedly created law library lacks adequate resources for the amount of people currently held at the facility. In January 2026, ICE announced the on-site death of Geraldo Lunas Campos “after experiencing medical distress.” ICE opened an investigation into the death, but did not provide a cause of death. However, The Washington Post later reported that another man detained at Camp East Montana had witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos when he refused to enter a segregated housing unit. Weeks later, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled that Lunas Campos had experienced “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression” and ruled his death a homicide.
Lunas Campos is the first detainee to die at Camp East Montana as a result of a use-of-force incident, but we are strongly concerned that he will not be the last if ICE is allowed to continue operating Camp East Montana.
ICE was given $45 billion in taxpayer dollars in the reconciliation bill, $1.2 billion of which were awarded to Acquisition Logistics, LLC, a company with no previous experience managing immigration detention facilities, to build and oversee Camp East Montana. However, in the wake of three deaths in custody so far, continued concerns about conditions at the facility, and ICE’s apparent disinterest in responding to oversight letters from Congress, we do not believe Camp East Montana is being run professionally or responsibly.
Camp East Montana must be shut down. For the safety of everyone at the facility, for an end to abuses to detainees, and for fiscal responsibility to the American people, the site cannot continue to operate. We are calling on DHS and ICE to move to immediately close operations at Camp East Montana.
We look forward to hearing from the Department promptly on this matter.
The other co-signers include Representatives Yassamin Ansari, Nanette Barragán, Yvette Clarke, Lloyd Doggett, Maxwell Frost, Jesús “Chuy” García, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Henry Johnson, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delia Ramirez, Andrea Salinas, Janice Schakowsky, Darren Soto, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Lauren Underwood, Gabe Vasquez, and Nydia Velázquez.
Issues: Immigration
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