Hi there,

My name is Helen Weems. I'm a family nurse practitioner and the Founder and Director of All Families Healthcare in Whitefish, Montana. I'm writing to you today to tell you about how the Center for Reproductive Rights helped me bring reproductive health care to rural Montana.

When I opened All Families Healthcare as an advanced practice nurse in February 2018, I was allowed to run my own practice, write prescriptions, and perform many procedures.

My clinic was meant to provide the critical primary care, including reproductive health care that Montanans need and deserve—but under Montana state law, I wasn't allowed to provide abortion care.

At the time, I was in a region where the only other abortion provider in the state was nearly a three-hour drive away.

So, just a couple days before officially opening the clinic, with the help of the Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, we challenged Montana's law which prevented qualified clinicians from providing abortion services. We temporarily blocked the law, allowing me to train and provide abortion care. Then, in April 2019, we won again at the state's Supreme Court!

This case was nothing short of transformative for abortion access in the state. Because of our victory at the Montana Supreme Court, I am now able to provide abortion care and integrated sexual and reproductive care to hundreds of Montanans every year.

Without the Center's representation, there would have been no lawsuit. Without the hope of winning this case, I wouldn't have opened the clinic.

But as access has grown in Montana, I'm keenly aware of the increasingly hostile climate in the state and what's happening in other states across the country. My heart breaks when I think of my fellow providers in Texas who are working around the clock to provide the care their patients need under S.B. 8, the extreme ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. This ban was passed by out of touch, anti-abortion politicians who do not represent the will of their constituents.

Abortion bans like S.B. 8 and Montana's earlier restrictions do not serve the greater good. These laws infringe on people's essential rights, their lives, their futures, and their hopes and dreams. I know it's hard to feel hopeful right now, but I find strength in knowing I have people like you who are right there with us.

Thank you for your support of the Center, and in turn, of my clinic here in Whitefish. I'm so grateful to have you by our side.

Helen Weems
Founder and Director, All Families Healthcare
Whitefish, Montana