Montana medical professionals tell politicians to stay out of reproductive health care decisions

On the eve of the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs that put abortion protections back in the hands of states, more than 100 Montana medical professionals signed a letter calling on Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and lawmakers to get their hands out of reproductive health care decisions. “Montana medical professionals call on our state lawmakers and Governor Gianforte to stop their attacks on our patients’ reproductive health and bodily autonomy,” the 106 medical professionals wrote in a letter put forward by the Committee to Protect Health Care. They emphasized that decisions around abortion should be left to women and their trained doctors – not politicians.

The Armstrong Decision and Constitutional Privacy

Abortion remains legal in Montana through the state Supreme Court’s Armstrong v. State of Montana decision. It protects access to abortion based on the state’s constitutional privacy protection. In Thursday’s letter, the health care professionals said the legislative session this spring was “extremely hostile to patients’ rights” and called on elected leaders to cease their dangerous attacks on reproductive health, including access to abortion. From allowing anti-abortion health care providers to refuse to provide care, to challenging the legal precedent protecting access to abortion under Montana’s state constitution, these extremist attempts cause grave concern for medical professionals.

Legislative Restrictions and Preliminary Injunctions

Republican lawmakers this past session sent eight bills to Gianforte’s desk that involved abortion restrictions, and he signed seven of them. Several reproductive health care groups challenged many of the bills almost as soon as they were signed, however, and Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike Menahan issued preliminary injunctions keeping the state from enforcing the new laws. Below are the specific measures and rules currently blocked by the court:

• A 24-week abortion ban.
• A ban on dilation and evacuation abortions after 15 weeks.
• A ban on Medicaid-funded abortions.
• A prohibition on the use of Medicaid for medically necessary abortions.
• A Department of Public Health and Human Services rule requiring prior authorization and a physical exam for Medicaid abortion providers.

Medical Professionals Speak Out

Two of the doctors who signed the letter, Kalispell family medicine physician Kelly Berkram and Whitefish emergency medicine physician Emily Fleming, said the new laws made this session left them feeling uneasy about the future of reproductive health care in Montana. Fleming said the state “narrowly dodged a bullet” when several of the laws were enjoined. Health care providers in other states are having to consider whether to break the law and risk jail time or not provide life-saving care for their patients. “Abortion bans and restrictions aren’t fair for doctors or our patients. They are flat out dangerous,” Fleming said.