After record-setting Legislature one-year post-Dobbs, Montanans still have abortion rights

It has been one year since the U.S. Supreme Court — SCOTUS — issued the Dobbs decision, eliminating the federally protected right to abortion. Here in Montana with the 2023 legislative session having ended in early May, we saw unprecedented 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, despite the attempts to ban and restrict, remains legal and safe.

The path laid before our country 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. Attempts have been made to withdraw FDA approval for mifepristone, a drug with over 20 years of safety records, and is used in the most common method of medication abortion. SCOTUS issued a stay for mifepristone in April, protecting the use of the drug while the fate of this method of health care and those who rely on it, especially rural Americans, is decided.

With the amount of national abortion 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. Greg 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 abortion care due to litigation on signed bills, and one Department of Health and Human Services rule that would have effectively eliminated Medicaid recipients’ access to abortion care. Montanans need to know that we can still access safe, legal abortion, and Medicaid patients can utilize benefits to do so.

While we have fought attacks and our right to individual privacy remains, I will not sugarcoat things: The 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.

At the end of the day, Montanans deserve the ability to make good lives for ourselves, our families, and our communities. We recognize how many harmful bills alongside anti-abortion legislation eventually made their way to Gov. Gianforte’s desk, the tone and tenor of hearings, and the overall social, environmental, and economic impact that will be felt for generations to come.

We are grateful to legislative champions who work tirelessly for the communities they represent and the values that Montanans share: uplifting individual freedoms and privacy; the ability to live, work, and raise a family in Montana; a healthy environment and access to public lands; and the spirit of neighborliness.

We also honor a victory for our state in Rep. Alice Buckley’s bill to expand birth control coverage from six months to twelve months. The legislation passed with bipartisan support, making affordable birth control more accessible. We also 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 legislative session, it was not without celebration and some big sighs of relief.

In an era of culture wars, while Montanans have real issues like access to health care, housing, funding programs for families and children, and climate change to grapple with, the attacks on abortion care, transgender identities and bodies, and on gender-affirming care for minors have been calculated and coordinated efforts to curtail privacy rights and legislate the bodies of Montanans for political points. 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.

Even though the session has adjourned, our work continues and we invite you to show up for the rights of your fellow Montanans. Remember that 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 own story, whether it’s about affordable birth control or the right to safe and legal abortion — it can make a difference by helping destigmatize abortion, and normalize talking about reproductive and sexual healthcare. 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.

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Quinn Leighton is the director of external affairs at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana.