After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Protected

Montana

Abortion remains legal in Montana. In November 2024, voters passed a constitutional initiative that expressly codified protections to abortion rights into the Montana Constitution.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Method Ban

Bans Enjoined

  • Gestational Ban, 20-week LMP
  • Medication Abortion, Telemedicine Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement

State Protections

Montana has constitutional protections for abortion through both state supreme court jurisprudence and an approved constitutional amendment.

The Montana Constitution provides that “[t]he right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.”1 The Supreme Court of Montana describes this provision as “one of the most stringent protections of its citizens’ right to privacy in the United States—exceeding even that provided by the federal constitution.”2 In addition, the Court has held that this right includes a right to “procreative autonomy” that protects to access to abortion.3

In 2023, the state enacted a law purporting to redefine the right to privacy to exclude the right to abortion.4 However in 2024, Montana voters amended the state constitution to expressly provide a right to abortion and prohibit government from denying or burdening the right to abortion prior to fetal viability.5 This amendment went into effect July 1, 2025.6 On that same day, the Montana Supreme Court declined to hear a constitutional challenge to the amendment.7

All attempts to prohibit public funding for abortion have failed and the state continues to provide public funding for abortion care.8  A state Supreme Court decision allows advanced practice clinicians (APCs) to provide abortion care, in addition to licensed physicians and physicians assistant.9 Montana protects clinic access by prohibiting obstruction.10

Restrictions

Montana law prohibits abortion at viability.11 Montana law also prohibits D&E12 and D&X procedures;13 however the D&E ban has been enjoined.14 Previous waiting period and biased counseling requirements are permanently enjoined.15

In November 2022, voters rejected a referendum that mischaracterized abortion, furthered abortion stigma, and could have criminalized medical professionals.16

Montana’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities17 and reporting18, and restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.19 Providers who violate Montana’s abortion restrictions may face criminal penalties.20

Historical Restrictions

Montana state repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1974.21 In 2024, the Montana Supreme Court found that requiring that a parent or legal guardian be notified about a minor’s abortion,22 or a judicial bypass,23 violates the Montana Constitution.24 In 2025, the state Supreme Court also struck down25 certain reporting requirements26, requirements related to waiting periods27, biased counseling28, and ultrasounds29, a telemedicine ban30, and a twenty-week ban31 as unconstitutional.

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion remains legal in Montana. In November 2024, voters passed a constitutional initiative that expressly codified protections to abortion rights into the Montana Constitution.

  1. Mont. Const. art. II, § 10. ↩︎
  2. Armstrong v. State, 989 P.2d 364, 373 (Mont. 1999). ↩︎
  3. Armstrong, 989 P.2dat 370. ↩︎
  4. Mont. Code Ann. § 1-2-117. ↩︎
  5. Ballot Language for Constitutional Initiative No. 128 (CI-128), Mont. Sec’y of State, https://sosmt.gov/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfisadmin=false&action=wpfd&task=file.download&wpfd_category_id=26&wpfd_file_id=63616&token=33052d3e15a233cc3730046defc8f9a9&preview=1 (last visited Dec. 18, 2025); Ballot Questions, Mont. Sec’y of State, https://electionresults.mt.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=BQ&map=CTY (last visited Dec. 16, 2025). ↩︎
  6. Mont. Const. art. II, § 36, Right to make decisions about pregnancy. ↩︎
  7. Rhodes v. State, No. OP 25-0408, 2025 WL 1823268, at *2 (Mont. July 1, 2025). ↩︎
  8. Planned Parenthood v. Mont., 2024 MT 228, ¶ 42, 418 Mont. 253, 557 P.3d 440 (order affirming temporary injunction); Planned Parenthood v. Mont., No. ADV-2023-299, 2025 WL 2835750 (Mont. Dist. Ct. Mar. 11, 2025) (permanently enjoining H.B. 544, H.B. 862, and Department of Public Health and Human Services Rule amendments to Mont. Admin. R. 37.82.102 and 37.86.104 which would have restricted Medicaid coverage of abortion); see also Jeannette R. v. Ellery, No. BDV-94-811, 1995 WL 17959705 (Mont. Dist. Ct. May 22, 1995). ↩︎
  9. Weems v. State by & through Knudsen, 2023 MT 82, 412 Mont. 132, 529 P.3d 798 (permanently enjoining Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-109(1)(a)). ↩︎
  10. Mont. Code Ann. § 45-8-110. ↩︎
  11. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-109; see Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-104(6)(a) (presumes viability to begin at 24 weeks). ↩︎
  12. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-1003. ↩︎
  13. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-401. ↩︎
  14. Knudsen,2025 MT at ¶127; Planned Parenthood of Mont. v. Mont., No. ADV-25-2023-0000231, 2025 WL 2846216, at *4 (Mont. Dist. Mar. 7, 2025). ↩︎
  15. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 50-20-104, 50-20-106, invalidated by Planned Parenthood of Missoula v. State, No. BDV-95-722, 1999 Mont. Dist. LEXIS 1117, *22 (Mont. Dist. Ct. Mar. 12, 1999). ↩︎
  16. Ballot Questions, Mont. Sec’y of State, https://electionresults.mt.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=BQ&map=CTY&eid=22 (last visited Dec. 16, 2025). ↩︎
  17. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 50-20-901 et seq., 50-5-101(20)(a). ↩︎
  18. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 50-20-110, 50-20-306; Mont. Admin. R. 37.21.110. ↩︎
  19. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 50-20-704, 50-20-705. ↩︎
  20. See, e.g., Mont. Code Ann. §§ 50-20-109, 50-20-112. ↩︎
  21. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 94-401 and 94-402 (1947), repealed by 1974 Mont. Laws, Ch. 284. ↩︎
  22. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-504. ↩︎
  23. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-509. ↩︎
  24. Planned Parenthood of Mont. v. State, 2024 MT 178, ¶56, Mont. 457, 554 P.3d 153, cert. denied 145 S. Ct. 2627 (2025). ↩︎
  25. Planned Parenthood of Mont. v. State by & through Knudsen (Knudsen),2025 MT 120, 422 Mont. 241, 570 P.3d 51. ↩︎
  26. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-709 (requiring providers to report certain information to state Department of Public Health and Human Services, including patient’s county of residence, age, race, and number of previous pregnancies). ↩︎
  27. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-707. ↩︎
  28. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 50-20-707, 50-20-708, 50-20-105(4). ↩︎
  29. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-113.  ↩︎
  30. MONT. CODE ANN. §§ 50-20-704 (requiring in-person visit), 50-20-705 (requiring follow-up visit after distribution of medication abortion). ↩︎
  31. Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-603 (prohibiting abortions at twenty weeks LMP). ↩︎