Latest Montana state government News
Montana lawmaker seeks to overturn abortion ruling
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Montana legislature is considering a proposal that would interpret the state’s constitutional right to privacy to mean that it does not protect the right to an abortion, a move that would echo others in several states to severely restrict or ban abortion. ...
Stricter Medicaid abortion process up for debate in Montana
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Officials in Republican-controlled Montana on Thursday heard comments against a health department proposal to require prior authorization to pay for abortions for Medicaid patients. Critics say the proposal would unnecessarily reduce access and delay or even prevent abortion...
Cries for help pour into 988 mental health, suicide line
HYATTSVILLE, Md. (AP) — When Jamieson Brill answers a crisis call from a Spanish speaker on the newly launched national 988 mental health helpline, he rarely mentions the word suicide, or “suicidio” Brill, whose family hails from Puerto Rico, knows that just discussing the term...
States target transgender health care in first bills of 2023
After a midterm election and record flow of anti-transgender legislation last year, Republican state lawmakers this year are zeroing in on questions of bodily autonomy with new proposals to limit gender-affirming health care and abortion access. More than two dozen bills seeking to...
Montana lawmaker wants to revisit idea of reservations
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A white state lawmaker in Montana is questioning whether land set aside long ago for Native Americans should exist anymore. Republican Sen. Keith Regier is proposing asking Congress to study alternatives to reservations. The measure, submitted this week and...
Transgender lawmaker hopes her presence brings understanding
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Zooey Zephyr worked behind the scenes during Montana’s 2021 legislative session to oppose an ultimately unsuccessful effort to ban transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming health care, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery. ...
EXPLAINER: Undoing of Roe quickly shifts abortion in states
Anti-abortion groups hoped and strategized for decades for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that was delivered in June, ending a court-protected right to abortion after nearly 50 years. The fallout was immediate and far-reaching — and it's not over yet. The midyear ruling...
Montana justices weigh if some nurses can provide abortions
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Advanced practice registered nurses in Montana should be allowed to provide abortions based on a state Supreme Court ruling that guarantees residents the right to get a legal abortion from a health care provider of the patient’s choice, an attorney for the Center for...
Judge rejects vaccine choice law in health care settings
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A person's choice to decline vaccinations does not outweigh public health and safety requirements in medical settings, a federal judge ruled in a Montana case. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy last week permanently blocked a section of law the state said was...
Montana judge to decide on wolf hunting limits
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge said he would decide Tuesday whether to continue temporary limits he placed on wolf hunting or to restore quotas and hunting methods pending a trial over changes in the way the state estimates the size of the wolf population, which informs hunting quotas. ...
