12-week abortion ban and other restrictions surge through House committee

Excerpt by Mara Silvers, Montana Free Press | February 28, 2023

Opponents countered that HB 721 was medically inaccurate, inflammatory, criminalized the practice of medicine and would result in loss of second trimester abortion access, an infringement on Montana’s longstanding legal protections for abortion access.

“House Bill 721 is yet another abortion ban. It takes away safe and effective care,” said Nicole Smith, executive director of Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula. “The ban would have the most detrimental impact on the most vulnerable Montanans: those who face challenges such as financial or travel-related reasons, which lead to delays in accessing care.”

Legislative staff attorneys also said the bill created “potential constitutional conformity issues” with the state Supreme Court’s 1999 ruling granting pre-viability abortion access from a chosen provider. While Regier said HB 721 makes exceptions for medically necessary abortions, attorneys in a legal note attached to the bill said the phrase “medical emergency” was “narrowly defined,” concluding that the bill would ban procedural abortions “at all stages of pregnancy in non-emergency and emergency situations.”

The bill passed Tuesday morning, as did House Bill 625, introduced by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings, which would require medical professionals to work to “preserve the life and health” of an infant who is born alive, regardless of viability, a narrowed version of Legislative Referendum 131 that voters rejected in November.

The bill defines “alive” as an infant who “breathes, has a beating heart, or has definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, induced abortion, or another method.” It includes a mandatory reporting requirement for health care providers who are aware of violations. 

“[T]he idea that infants are killed following an abortion is a dangerous lie intended to stigmatize abortion and demonize patients and providers. House Bill 625 is just another tired attempt of legislators trying to interfere with private and personal medical decisions that should be between a patient and their health care provider,” said Julia Maxon with the group Montana Women Vote.