Lawmakers hear proposed bill that seeks to challenge key Montana abortion ruling
Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen have both called on the Montana Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling in the Armstrong decision.
Opponents of SB 154 said applying privacy rights to abortion was valid and appropriate.
“Decisions about our bodies, our health care, and our families are the most private decisions that we make; it is into that realm that decisions about pregnancy and abortion fall,” said Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana. “These are decisions that must be made individually, and can only be made by the pregnant person and their health care provider.”
They also argued the bill overstepped the Legislature’s authority, and that it was the judiciary’s role to interpret what a constitutional right means – not lawmakers’.
“All this bill is going to do is create a challenge, that is going to succeed, because you don’t have the authority to pass this bill,” said attorney Mike Meloy.