‘Personhood’ for embryos fails, other abortion bills head to governor’s desk

Voters in Montana won’t see a proposed constitutional amendment to confer “personhood” rights on embryos, but a couple of other bills related to abortion are headed to the desk of Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Last week, House Bill 316 sponsored by Rep. Lee Deming, R-Laurel, failed to earn the minimum 100 votes out of 150 in the Montana Legislature needed to present a constitutional amendment to voters.

The bill came following the passage in November 2024 of Constitutional Initiative 128 to protect abortion. It passed with 58% of the vote.

In a statement Friday, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana CEO and President Martha Fuller said Montanans will rest easier knowing the attempt to ignore their wishes and “undermine the right to an abortion” has failed.

“The government is not now and never will be the expert on the lives, families or pregnancies of Montanans — it’s high time for politicians to respect the personal and medical privacy of their constituents,” Fuller said in a statement about HB 316.

The bill earned 58 “yes” votes in the House and 33 “yes” votes in the Senate on third readings.

The 2025 Montana Legislature has taken up other bills related to abortion, although legislators tabled a number of them. However, House Bill 388 and Senate Bill 154 both are headed to the desk of Gianforte.

HB 388, sponsored by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, would allow pregnancy centers to operate without regulation.

Proponents including the Montana Family Foundation said those centers should not be punished for refusing to facilitate abortions, according to reporting from the Montana State News Bureau.

Opponents said those facilities are not required to provide legitimate medical information or protect privacy, and they misinform clients.

SB 154, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, prohibits the sale of whole human bodies and human fetal tissue, which is already illegal under federal law.

On the Senate floor earlier this session, Emrich said it was “a great bill” and makes sure bodies and fetal tissue are “being donated and not sold as a commodity inside the state of Montana.”

In the final debate on HB 316, which took place in the Senate on Thursday, Sen. Vince Ricci, R-Billings, said he couldn’t imagine a greater violation of human dignity or of privacy than abortion.

“The state has a compelling interest (in) protecting the lives of the most vulnerable human beings, and the human being … in the womb has … a life interest equal to that of his or her mother,” said Ricci, who carried the bill.

Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, said those who supported the protection of abortion approved a measure that is “immoral and wrong.”

“I think abortion is murder, and I’ll catch heck for that I’m sure, but it’s the killing of a person, a formed, live person. Making it a right to privacy is baloney,” Trebas said.

He said the Montana Supreme Court made an inappropriate link to privacy when it extended it to abortion because “this is the child’s body that we’re talking about. And they have a right to life.”

Minority Leader Pat Flowers said Montanans don’t support the attacks against the right to privacy, and it was time to focus on other issues, such as tax bills.

“Call it baloney or not, it’s in the Constitution, and it’s an important right,” said Flowers, D-Belgrade.

Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, said the bill would outlaw in vitro fertilization, and Montanans all love mothers and babies and want more of them in the state.

Neumann also asked if the state should control men’s bodies.

“If we’re going to try to have this type of control over women’s bodies, because the fetus is part of the woman’s body, are we also going to try to have this type of control over men’s bodies?” Neumann said.“Are we going to regulate ejaculation? This is what we’re talking about. We are talking about regulating the internal parts of bodies.”

Sen. Laura Smith, D-Helena, said the bill could create a “legal quagmire” for any doctor who needed to provide medical care to a pregnant woman who was experiencing a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.

“This legislation would effectively tie doctors’ hands rather than allowing them to treat their patients without fear or prosecution,” said Smith, a lawyer.

Keila Szpaller is deputy editor of the Daily Montanan, a nonprofit newsroom.