Women Are Not Cattle or Property

Today, during the hearing on HB 167, a bill from Rep. Regier that seeks to infringe on a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions, the Representative made a series of bizarre and offensive analogies against women.

Rep. Regier equated a pregnant women to pregnant cows and half built houses. He even provided pictures to the committee to make sure they got his point.

In response to the offensive analogy, Democratic leaders in the Senate sent the following letter to Senate Republican leaders:

President Jim Peterson and Speaker Mike Milburn,

Regretfully, we would like to bring to your attention the comments of Representative Keith Regier during his bill closing in Senate Judiciary on March 8th, 2011. Representative Regier compared women to livestock and property, using terms interchangeably for women and cows. The notion that pregnant women ought to be treated in any way like pregnant cattle is offensive, unacceptable, and embarrassing to our legislature. We do not place price tags on women in the same way that we do on cattle—and a woman’s worth is not valued based on whether or not she is pregnant. Representative Regier’s analogy was offensive, an insult to all female legislators, to all women in Montana, and to the decorum of our body.

Today is the 100th Annual International Women’s Day. Women in Montana make up a majority of our constituents and play an important role in our state. Representative Regier’s remarks have gone too far. Attitudes like this disrespect the hard work of our female legislators and our constituents. We ask that you censure Representative Regier under Joint Rules 10-85, “Legislators and legislative employees have the right to work free of harassment on account of race, color, sex, culture, social origin or condition, or religious ideas when performing services in furtherance of legislative responsibilities, whether the offender is an employer, employee, legislator, lobbyist, or member of the public,” and we also request that he publicly apologize to the Senate, House, and the women of Montana.

Sincerely,

Senator Carol Williams Senator Kim Gillan Senator Lynda Moss
Minority Leader Minority Whip Judiciary Committee