Restrictions on abortion passed by the Montana Legislature have again been temporarily blocked in court.
A Lewis and Clark District Court judge halted a ban on a common abortion procedure while a legal challenge plays out.
The ban on dilation and evacuation procedures was in effect for about a day and half this week before the judge granted the block. It’s the only anti-abortion bill passed this session that had an immediate effective date and prohibits the most common procedure to terminate a pregnancy after 15 weeks.
Planned Parenthood of Montana and Blue Mountain Clinic, representing six clinics across the state, said they did not have any appointments for dilation and evacuation procedures scheduled this week so no appointments were canceled.
Judge Mike Menahan wrote that the court aims to prevent irreparable harm to constitutional rights while the lawsuit plays out in court. Montana Supreme Court precedent protects access to abortion under the right to privacy. The Montana Attorney General’s office had asked Menahan to deny the block, saying other abortion options are available and calling the procedure barbaric.
According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, dilation and evacuation procedures have been performed for decades and carry minimal risk of complications.
Menahan will hear initial arguments from both Planned Parenthood of Montana and the state next Tuesday.
