Montana governor signs abortion bills, will sign others

HELENA (AP) — Montana's Republican-controlled Legislature passed several bills related to abortion access, and Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed five of them Wednesday, including one that will likely lead the state Supreme Court to reconsider its nearly 25-year-old decision that supports the right to a pre-viability abortion by a provider of the patient's choice.

Democratic lawmakers criticized the legislation as "codifying the cruel and constant Republican attacks on Montanans' right to access abortion."

A bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Keith Regier and signed by Gianforte says the privacy right enshrined in the state Constitution does not include the right to an abortion — which is opposite of a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling.

"Montana's Constitution gives us an individual right to privacy. Abortion is not an individual event," said Regier, who expects lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new law.

"It'll be good for the courts to take a look at it," he said. "Let's get it straightened out."

Lawmakers also passed bills requiring abortion providers to provide more documentation.

One new law bans abortion beyond the point of viability, which the bill says can vary based on medical improvement but can be no later than 24 weeks. The law requires providers to show proof of their calculation of the gestational age of the fetus.

"Many of us believe that life begins at conception, but our constitution protects us at viability," said the sponsor, Republican Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway. "That needed to be defined."

Planned Parenthood of Montana asked the court to temporarily block Sheldon-Galloway's bill until a court case can be heard. The bill, which also requires patients to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion, took effect immediately.

"By adding unnecessary and burdensome red tape to a safe and legal medical procedure, these politicians have made clear that it was never about our health and safety. It was always about undermining our personal freedom and shaming people who seek abortions," said Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Montana.

Another bill requires prior authorization before Medicaid will pay for abortions due to rape, incest or the health of the mother. It requires physicians to document the gestational age and reason for the abortion as well as how many pregnancies and children the patient has had. It would take effect July 1.

The state has published a similar preauthorization rule that was temporarily blocked by a judge pending a May 12 hearing. The rule and the bill would only allow physicians to perform abortions, contrary to the same 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that also allows physician assistants to provide abortion care. The high court is also considering a legal challenge that would allow advanced practice nurses to perform abortions if they have proper training.

Gianforte said he would sign a bill to ban the type of surgical abortion most used during the second trimester of pregnancy when it is forwarded to his desk.

Planned Parenthood of Montana and other abortion providers tried to challenge the bill after it passed the Legislature, but a judge said there was no law that could be temporarily blocked at the time. The organization's challenge to Sheldon-Galloway's bill was filed Wednesday as an amendment to the surgical abortion ban complaint.

The governor also signed a law to require life-saving care be given to a baby born alive after an attempted abortion, a measure similar to a referendum voters rejected in November 2022. The new law is different from the referendum because it changes criminal penalties for providers to civil penalties and clarifies that the law does not require life-saving care for infants if the intervention would only prolong their inevitable death due to health issues.

Gianforte has signed or will sign bills to provide oversight of abortion clinics through licensing requirements, require the reporting of harmful effects of abortion pills and create a tax credit for adoptive families.

"Too often we lose unborn children because their parents don't feel ready to welcome their child into the world with the support they need and deserve," Gianforte said. "Adoption, not abortion, is often the answer."

Jeff Laszloffy, president of the Montana Family Foundation, celebrated the accomplishments of lawmakers during the 90-day legislative session but said abortion opponents will continue to work "until every life is protected from the moment of conception and until the scourge of abortion is lifted forever from the great state of Montana."

Democrats saw it differently.

"This session we saw an unprecedented number of harmful anti-abortion bills introduced and passed to strip Montanans of their Constitutional right to privacy and blatantly attacking Montanans' private relationships with their doctors," House Minority Leader Kim Abbott and Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers said in a statement.