After a record-setting Legislature one-year post-Dobbs, Montanans still have abortion rights
It has been one year since the Dobbs decision eliminated the federally protected right to abortion.
The path laid before us last June has set a tone of fear for millions of Americans, throwing legality and access to care into chaos with 20 states now having bans or restrictions.
Here in Montana with the 2023 legislative session having ended in early May, we saw attacks on the right to abortion and bodily autonomy, with record numbers of bills having been brought forward by legislators. However, Montanans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the right to abortion remains legal and safe.
With the amount of national news, emotions involved, and the number of bills passed this session at home, it may feel difficult to know where your rights stand and to summarize exactly what happened in Helena. After Gov. Gianforte signed into law anti-abortion legislation, it’s important to reiterate that abortion rights are still legal and safe in Montana. Patients in the state have seen no changes in care due to litigation on signed bills, and one Department of Public Health and Human Services rule that would have effectively eliminated Medicaid recipients’ access to abortion care. Montanans need to know that we can access safe abortion, and Medicaid patients can utilize benefits.
Montanans deserve the ability to make good lives for ourselves and our families. We are grateful to legislative champions that work tirelessly for the communities they represent and the values that Montanans share: individual freedoms; the ability to live, work and raise a family in Montana; a healthy environment and access to public lands; and the spirit of neighborliness.
This legislative session showed Montana that lawmakers are working against the best interests of everyday people by working tooth and nail to dial back the rights of women, LGBTQIA2S+ people, BIPOC communities, people living in the most rural and remote communities of our state, renters, working families, and people receiving public assistance benefits like Medicaid.
We honor a victory for our state in Rep. Alice Buckley’s bill to expand birth control coverage from six to 12 months, which passed with bipartisan support, making affordable birth control more accessible. We saw three anti-abortion bills tabled in committee, one that never made it to second reading on the last day of the session, as well as zero constitutional amendments targeting individual privacy and abortion rights. So, while it was a difficult session, it was not without celebration.
In an era of culture wars, while Montanans have issues like access to health care, housing, funding programs for families and children, and climate change to grapple with, Republicans worked relentlessly to pass laws attacking the privacy of Montanans despite support for our state constitution, abortion access and affordable health care from across Montana.
Although the session has adjourned, our work continues and we invite you to show up for the rights of your fellow Montanan. We all deserve to have lawmakers that work for us, not against us.
Voice your support by writing a letter to the editor in your local newspaper about your support for abortion and your Montana values. Share your story, whether it’s about affordable birth control or the right to abortion.
Ultimately, we can help show lawmakers and each other just what we’re fighting and advocating for; the future of Montana and the health, happiness and opportunity of our communities.