When the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization earlier this year, thus overturning Roe v. Wade, there was much speculation about how this would affect the midterm elections. Would it mobilize the left’s radical, unhinged pro-abortion crowd, crushing the Republicans’ hope for a red wave? Or, would crippling inflation and rising crime send a flood of conservatives and independents to the ballot box in a stinging rebuke of Joe Biden and his disastrous policies?

Pre-election polling consistently showed the economy, crime, and immigration being the top-of-mind issues for voters. Even exit polling on Election Day indicated voters were voting their pocketbooks over social issues like abortion.

Montana apparently didn’t get the memo.

The law on the ballot this year was Legislative Referendum 131, reported The Daily Wire, “a legislative referendum known as the Montana Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, [that] asked Montanans to decide whether “infants born alive, including infants born alive after an abortion, are legal persons.” Voters were asked whether or not LR 131 should be signed into law. A simple yes or no question about providing babies life-saving treatment.”

Montana voted “No”:

With 95% of the vote in, 52.4% of Montana resident voted “No” on the referendum, as opposed to 47.6% who voted “Yes.”

To be clear, abortion was not on the ballot. The measure was designed to ensure babies born alive, including those born alive after an abortion procedure, would get life-saving medical treatment. Some argued that medical personnel would be unfairly penalized for not offering medical treatment, while others claimed it was necessary to enshrine in law the dignity and worth of each new life.

It could also be argued that the Dobbs decision did play a role in Montanans rejecting this referendum, whether directly or indirectly. SBA Pro-Life America’s president told Fox News Digital that, in the wake of Dobbs, pro-abortion groups threw money at defeating the initiative:

“As with other ballot initiatives across the country, pro-abortion forces vastly outspent pro-life forces to drive dishonest messages to confuse the voters,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, told Fox News Digital.

Dannenfelser also added that “pro-abortion forces ran TV ads characterizing the initiative as an ‘an extreme, harmful government intrusion into medical care,’ when all the initiative would do is provide the same level of care to an infant who survived an abortion as you would to an infant born early in pregnancy. If Montana voters knew the truth about what the initiative would actually do, it would have passed overwhelmingly.”

Conservatives and pro-life activists on Twitter agreed with her.

I’m horrified that even ONE person would vote in Montana to deny babies healthcare after they’ve already been born. They’re basically saying they want the babies left out to die.

We need Jesus to save our nation. Desperately.

— Abby Johnson (@AbbyJohnson) November 10, 2022

Abortion has wounded our nation so deeply that we are refusing to ensure proper medical care for newborn infants. #EndInfanticide https://t.co/A7DqygcOlc

— March for Life (@March_for_Life) November 10, 2022

LR 131 was a missed opportunity to ensure each baby born alive in Montana would get the care they needed to survive and thrive. It’s shameful that these protections will be denied those who need it the most.

Our littlest ones deserve better.