Montana Supreme Court strikes down multiple abortion laws in sweeping decision

Four years ago, Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a series of laws aimed at safeguarding children in the womb.

Yet in a move which has left GOP members seething, Montana’s Supreme Court has just struck all of them down. 

State “has no role in proclaiming when a fetus is viable”

According to the Montana Free Press, that came in the form of a nearly unanimous decision issued by the state’s highest judicial body on Monday.

“The government, whether through the Legislature or the courts, has no role in proclaiming when a fetus is viable over the judgment of a medical provider working with an individual to make private, autonomous decisions about their own health,” Justice Beth Baker wrote in her majority opinion.

“A fixed gestational age that does not allow a provider’s case-specific determination fails to ensure that the government does not interfere with an individual’s private medical decisions,” she continued.

“Until a fetus is viable and able to survive outside the womb, the right of personal autonomy belongs to the person on whose body the fetus depends,” the opinion stated.