The Montana Supreme Court on Monday struck down three pro-life laws passed in 2021, upholding District Court Judge Kurt Krueger’s 2024 decision that concluded the laws violated the state’s right to privacy.
“The laws have been on hold since 2021 after a preliminary injunction was granted in Planned Parenthood’s favor,” John Riley reported.
According to the Attorney General’s office, here are the three commonsense laws struck down:
HB 136 prohibited abortion in the case of babies who can feel pain, generally defined as a baby 20 or more weeks old.
HB 140 required that a pregnant woman be afforded the opportunity to view an active ultrasound and listen to a baby’s heartbeat before undergoing an abortion.
HB 171 established a protocol for the prescription of abortion-inducing drugs to protect the health and welfare of mothers, requiring in-person visits for prescribing and dispensing of chemical abortion drugs.
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The Montana Attorney General’s office and Gov. Gianforte blasted the decision, written by Justice Beth Baker. “This isn’t surprising. It’s another rubber stamp for Planned Parenthood from their allies on the Montana Supreme Court” said Emilee Cantrell, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice. “And as the dissenting opinion correctly points out, ‘the State’s vital role in protecting and preserving human life,’ was ignored.”
Gov. Gianforte hammered the justices for striking down the three laws that were aimed at protecting the life, health, and welfare of mothers and their babies,
“Activist justices on the Montana Supreme Court continued their series of attacks on commonsense measures to protect the life, health, and welfare of mothers and their babies. Clinging to a shaky, outdated ruling and failing to account for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions, these activist justices aren’t interpreting the law. They’re overreaching, making law from the bench and rejecting the will of Montanans’ duly-elected representatives who make laws.
“These activist justices rejected modern medicine and are instead clinging to medical care available more than 50 years ago. Ultimately, they have failed the lives, health, and welfare of mothers and their babies, and they should be ashamed.
Gov. Gianforte concluded
“As a pro-life governor, I believe all life is precious and must be protected. I will continue to defend the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves. I’ll also pray for changed hearts as we work to bring nabout a culture of life for every Montanan, born and unborn.”
In her 69 page decision, Justice Baker “cited the Montana Supreme Court’s 1999 ruling, commonly known as the Armstrong decision, which stated that the state constitution’s right to privacy protected access to abortion before a fetus is viable,” Riley reported.
Wrote Justice Baker, “Armstrong thus explicitly and unequivocally acknowledged that the right of individual privacy—encompassing the right to personal and procreative autonomy—is protected separately under Montana’s right to privacy, a broader provision independent of federal law.”
Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen “have argued the Armstrong case was wrongly decided, and the state again made that argument in this case,” according to Riley.
In January 2022, Knudsen told the state Supreme Court that “All three laws unquestionably enhance the health and safety of Montana women. And they represent basic regulations of the practice of medicine—bread-and-butter exercises of (state government).” He added that the reasoning in Armstrong
is a deeply flawed tribute to unrestrained judicial activism. Nowhere in Montana’s constitutional text is there a right to elective abortion. Instead, the framers intentionally excluded abortion from the Constitution and left to the Legislature the prerogative to permit, prohibit, or regulate it.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.
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Author: Dave Andrusko
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