Montana Supreme Court strikes down trio of abortion bills as unconstitutional
A trio of abortion-related bills, passed in 2021, were declared unconstitutional by a nearly unanimous Montana Supreme Court on Monday.
Nearly, because Justice Jim Rice wrote both a concurring and dissenting opinion affirming again Montana’s constitutionally protected right-to-privacy, which includes medical procedures and abortion.
The laws were halted before they could even be practically enacted, so the hurdles to the procedure, including waiting periods, mandatory ultrasound, a pile of documentation and banning abortion after 20 weeks, even before the point of fetal viability, never rippled throughout the state.
Justice Beth Baker wrote the opinion on behalf of the court, which not only reaffirmed the state Constitution’s right-to-privacy as unique and separate from federal cases on abortion, but also took the state to task for failing to support its claim that the State of Montana had a compelling interest in abortion, while not proving that any of the legislative hurdles were scientifically supported.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/montana-supreme-court-strikes-down-trio-abortion-bills-unconstitutional
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