Today, two Montana abortion clinics have asked a Montana state court to block a series of new restrictions on abortion clinics that were issued by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services last month. A court order issued last year prevented the new rules from being enforced immediately. That order expires on November 19, when the new rules will impose onerous and unnecessary requirements that will make it more difficult for clinics to stay open and harder for patients to access abortion care. The Center for Reproductive Rights, ACLU of Montana, and Dechert LLP are asking the Court on behalf of the plaintiffs to block the rules on an emergency basis before they take effect.
“In this post-Roe landscape, states like Montana should be finding ways to help people access abortion, not making it harder. Like the slew of abortion restrictions Montana has passed in recent years, the new clinic rules are not about safety,” said Hillary Schneller, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “The clinics we represent have been providing safe and compassionate abortion care for years, and like all health care providers, are already subject to government regulation. The new rules have no purpose other than making abortion harder to provide and access. This is yet another attack on Montanans’ fundamental rights to privacy and bodily autonomy.”
“House Bill 937 and these new regulations are the classic wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Akilah Deernose, Executive Director at the ACLU of Montana. “They are yet another attempt by the Montana Legislature to regulate abortion clinics out of existence. As such they violate important protections in the Montana Constitution.”
“The new rules are the latest effort by the state to single out abortion providers for medically unnecessary harassment, with the end goal of making abortion care inaccessible to patients and regulating abortion providers out of existence. If All Families stopped providing abortion care—but continued to provide identical miscarriage care—none of the new rules would apply,” said plaintiff Helen Weems of All Families Healthcare. “Abortion care saves lives. Rather than going to court, time and again, to fight anti-abortion restrictions, I want to focus my energy on providing life-saving, life-affirming health care for my patients.”
"Blue Mountain Clinic has been providing family care, including abortion services, since 1977. These laws are disingenuous, and force women and girls to carry pregnancies to term against their will by making fundamental health care impossible to access,” said Tess Fields, Executive Director of Policy and Development at plaintiff Blue Mountain Clinic. “This is nothing but a smoke screen, and it’s deeply disappointing that Governor Gianforte continues to waste millions of taxpayer dollars to deny Montanans their right to comprehensive health care."
Montana voters will soon have the opportunity to weigh in on a proposal to enshrine the right to abortion into the state constitution. The measure, which will be on the November ballot this year, aims to strengthen constitutional protections for abortion.
This case, All Families Healthcare v. Montana, was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, the ACLU of Montana, and Dechert LLP on behalf of All Families Healthcare, Blue Mountain Clinic, and Helen Weems, APRN-FNP.
