Montana mom says her state’s abortion law saved her life | The Montana Independent
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Tyler Azure of Havre, Montana, and members of her family (Photo courtesy of Tyler Azure)

Tyler Azure, 31, is a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe and lives in Havre, Montana, about 30 minutes from the Rocky Boy’s Reservation where she grew up. 

She is an activist with Invincible Mamas Pushing for Action and Change Together, an initiative of the Justice and Joy National Collaborative, an intergenerational advocacy group for girls, young women and moms, and gender-expansive young people of color. Azure is also the mother of 10 children, three of whom she gave birth to and seven others she and her husband took in as their own. 

Azure told the Montana Independent that when she learned in May that she was pregnant, she was scared, knowing that there were already a lot of kids in the household. She had delivered her three children by cesarean section and had suffered two miscarriages in the past. But she and her husband decided to continue with the pregnancy.

At about nine weeks, Azure said, she began to feel that something wasn’t right. She felt ill and had cramps. Although they reminded her of how she had felt during her miscarriages, her doctor dismissed her concerns as normal physical changes experienced by many pregnant women over 30. 

At 17 weeks, Azure said, she was feeling the fetus moving. She was happy and relieved and put her worry aside. Two days later, everything stopped. 

“I kept telling my husband, ‘I don’t know why, but I cannot get him to move.’ I’m switching all these positions. I’m trying to do everything to get him to move and he just wasn’t moving for me,” Azure said. 

A few days later, Azure said, she started having heart palpitations and a weird taste in her mouth. After two ultrasounds, one with her physician and the other at her local hospital, it was confirmed that her fetus was no longer alive and that Azure would need a procedure to induce labor. She was given the prescription drug mifepristone, a medication used in both miscarriages and abortions. 

After three days in the hospital, on Aug. 28, Azure delivered the fetus. 

“I got to hold him for a while and spend time with him. And I’m so thankful for the nurses and the way that they were able to help me get through that time,” Azure said.

Now, over two months later, Azure said, she drives through her town and sees people holding signs opposing ballot measure CI-128, known as the Right to Abortion Initiative, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. She says she wonders where she would be today if everyone had already voted against a similar measure. 

“If I would have did that at home alone and not had care because I was too afraid to go in, I fully believe that I would not be here, 100%, and the thought of not being here with my kids is such a scary, scary thought, and they’ve struggled too with it,” Azure said. “My daughter still cries every morning before school because of the trauma she has from me being in the hospital and thinking that I wasn’t going to come home or I wasn’t going to make it, and that’s scary, because that could have really been a reality, and so to face her every day with that has been pretty difficult.” 

Azure said: “I just want people to know, like, even if it’s a decision or if it happened unexpectedly, it’s not something that’s being taken lightly by the parents at all. And so to add that extra layer of stress or fear for them, I just feel like that’s unfair.”

On Oct. 17, the Committee to Protect Health Care published a letter signed by over 250 health care professionals in support of CI-128. 

“We physicians and medical professionals can’t sit by while politicians continue their attacks on critical reproductive rights and patient privacy,” the letter said. “By passing this ballot measure, we can secure reproductive rights and protect the freedom to make personal decisions around pregnancy and abortion for our patients and all Montanans, for today and tomorrow.”

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