Montana judge temporarily blocks enforcement of abortion ban; hearing next week

May 18, 2023, 10:40 AM

FILE - Gov. Greg Gianforte signs a suite of bills aimed at restricting access to abortion during a ...

FILE - Gov. Greg Gianforte signs a suite of bills aimed at restricting access to abortion during a bill signing ceremony on the steps of the State Capitol, in Helena, Mont., on May 3, 2023. A judge on Thursday, May 18, 2023, granted Planned Parenthood of Montana's request to temporarily block enforcement of a law that bans the abortion method most commonly used after 15 weeks of pregnancy until he can hear arguments from both sides at a hearing on Tuesday, May 23. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a new ban on the type of abortion most commonly used after 15 weeks of gestation until he can hear arguments on the law next week.

District Court Judge Mike Menahan issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against a law that bans the use of dilation and evacuation abortions. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law on Tuesday and it took immediate effect.

The law would cause immediate and irreparable harm and damage to Planned Parenthood and its patients if it was allowed to remain in effect while the challenge played out in court, the order states.

Planned Parenthood of Montana filed a legal complaint over the constitutionality of the law on Tuesday, just hours after it was signed.

Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Montana, said she was glad the judge recognized the harm that anti-abortion laws cause to patients seeking basic health care.

“Politics has no place in the exam room and we will not stand by as lawmakers race to take away access to abortion and strip us of our personal freedom,” Fuller said.

The state of Montana argued that the law did not completely ban dilation and evacuation abortions. The procedure could still be done if the provider kills the fetus first by injecting it with a drug or saline solution, thus preventing the fetus from feeling pain, the state said in a court filing.

A human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after at least 24 weeks of gestation, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Abortion opponents argue a fetus can feel pain earlier than that.

Second-trimester abortions can also be performed by using medications to induce labor and delivery. The procedure takes place in a hospital where the patient can be monitored.

“None of the alternatives offered by the state for the banned procedure are feasible,” Planned Parenthood of Montana said in a statement. “They also carry more risk to the patient. This law bans the safest procedure after 15 weeks.”

As part of its reply, the state is also asking the courts to overturn a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that said Montana’s constitutional right to privacy includes the right to obtain a pre-viability abortion from the provider of their choice. The new law includes a provision saying the constitutional right to individual privacy does not include the right to a pre-viability abortion.

Menahan said he would hear arguments about the law next Tuesday, a time he has also set aside to hear arguments against a law that requires a woman to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion and a new rule that requires prior authorization before Medicaid will pay for abortions.

Menahan restrained enforcement of the ultrasound law and the prior authorization rule earlier this month.

United States News

FILE - Florida Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentences Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Browa...

Associated Press

Commission: Florida judge should be reprimanded for conduct during Parkland school shooting trial

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida judge who oversaw the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz should be publicly reprimanded for showing bias toward the prosecution, failing to curtail “vitriolic statements” directed at Cruz’s attorneys by the victims’ families and sometimes allowing “her emotions to overcome her judgement,” a state commission concluded […]

16 hours ago

FILE - A home burns as the Dixie fire jumps Highway 395 south of Janesville, Calif., Aug. 16, 2021....

Associated Press

California insurance market rattled by withdrawal of major companies

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two insurance industry giants have pulled back from California’s home insurance marketplace, saying that increasing wildfire risk and soaring construction costs have prompted them to stop writing new policies in the nation’s most populous state. State Farm announced last week it would stop accepting applications for all business and personal lines […]

16 hours ago

Associated Press

US judge yanks approval for Idaho mine after finding that federal agency violated environmental laws

A federal judge has yanked approval for a phosphate mining project in southeastern Idaho, saying federal land managers in the Trump administration didn’t in part properly consider the mine’s impact on sage grouse, a bird species that has seen an 80% decline in population since 1965. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill’s Friday decision came […]

16 hours ago

Sen. Fred Mills asks a question to members of The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Servi...

Associated Press

Louisiana Senate passes bill banning gender-affirming car for transgender youths

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A controversial bill — that at one point had been presumed dead — banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths in Louisiana was passed by the Senate on Monday and is likely to reach the governor’s desk in the coming days. The bill, which passed in the Senate mainly along […]

16 hours ago

Ted Henifin, the interim third-party manager appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice to help fi...

Associated Press

Mississippi’s capital only collects 56% of fees from its struggling water system

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s capital is collecting only a little more than half of the money it bills for water use, far below the rate at which most American cities obtain such fees, Jackson’s federally appointed water manager said Monday. Ted Henifin, appointed in November by a federal court to help improve Jackson’s troubled […]

16 hours ago

Associated Press

Chinese ex-official’s wife says alleged repatriation pressure turned her life in US ‘upside-down’

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Chinese official and his wife had left their homeland and kept their U.S. address private. Yet eight years later, two strangers were banging on their New Jersey front door and twisting the handle, the wife testified in a U.S. court Monday. When the men left and Liu Fang opened […]

16 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

SANDERSON FORD

Thank you to Al McCoy for 51 years as voice of the Phoenix Suns

Sanderson Ford wants to share its thanks to Al McCoy for the impact he made in the Valley for more than a half-decade.

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...

Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.

(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...

Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.

Montana judge temporarily blocks enforcement of abortion ban; hearing next week