The 2005 law was challenged in 2018, after which Judge Menahan issued a temporary injunction barring the law's enforcement. That injunction went on to be upheld by the Montana Supreme Court. Now, it has been permanently voided by Menahan.
“The State has failed to demonstrate a compelling interest in limiting abortion providers to licensed physicians and physician assistants,” Menahan wrote in his ruling. “State has not clearly and convincingly demonstrated a medically acknowledged, bona fide health risk which justifies interfering with a patient’s fundamental right to choose her own health care provider.”
"Once again abortionists sued to lower the standard of care for Montana women in order to further their financial interests in performing as many abortions as possible," said Emilee Cantrell, spokesperson for Attorney General Austin Knudsen. "We are reviewing the order to determine our next steps."
Knudsen has called on Montana's Supreme Court to overturn a 1999 ruling that abortion was a guaranteed right implied by the state constitution's right to privacy. That precedent is currently being used to challenge three other pro-life laws, all of which currently have injunctions prohibiting their enforcement.
One would ban abortions after 20 weeks, the second would require abortion businesses to give women the opportunity to view an ultrasound of their children, and the third would require abortion businesses to see women during an in-person visit before prescribing abortion pills for them.