HB 283 would have amended Montana's unisex insurance provision to allow gender to be considered when setting premiums in certain types of health insurance. In its original form, the language of the bill made it so that health insurance would be included, but the bill was eventually amended to say that health insurance was excluded from being allowed to discriminate based on gender. NPCMF supports gender neutral laws across the board; therefore we remained in opposition to the bill.

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This legislation mirrors 2007’s failed HB 203, and 2009’s  failed SB 406; as well as the failed 2008 and 2010 ballot initiatives,  CI-100 and CI-102. This amendment attempts to define life in the Montana Constitution as beginning at fertilization, establishing constitutional rights for a fertilized egg that are separate from the pregnant woman.

Besides attempting to enact a total ban on abortion if  Roe v. Wade is overturned, HB 490 would severely undermine the medical decision-making process for both pregnant women and health care providers. This bill is extremely dangerous, and has far-reaching implications that would impact women suffering miscarriages, seeking  in vitro fertilization or using certain common forms of birth control.

HB 490 passed out of the house 65-32 and died in Senate Judiciary on a tie vote.

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HB 574 sought to amend the Montana Constitution to explicitly deny
women the right to have an abortion and prohibit the state from any public funding of the service. This bill would undo decades of case law that
has paved the way for women to have access to safe, legal abortion in
Montana. The drafters of the Montana Constitution were careful to ensure that the right to privacy in the Montana Constitution applied to
abortion. 

HB 574 passed out of the house 66-31. After receiving a Senate vote of 30-20, it ultimately failed to garner the 100 votes necessary to
be placed on the 2012 ballot.

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote.

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HB 167 sought to define “unborn child” as a human who is conceived but is not yet born, a back door attempt to define life in criminal code. While the outward appearance of the bill seemed to be aimed at creating harsher penalties for assault against a pregnant woman, the bill elevated the fetus to the legal status of the woman, assigning personhood status to a fetus. This bill politicized the issue of violence against pregnant women without offering any workable solutions for dealing with a very serious problem.

HB 167 passed out of the House 70-29 and passed out of the Senate 29-
21. Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed the bill on 5/6/11.

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote.

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HB 456 sought to create statewide regulations for the implementation of
sexuality education curriculum in Montana Public Schools by forcing
schools to asks parents to OPT their child IN to sex education classes;
and would have banned any organization that provides abortions from
teaching sex education in public schools. By limiting access through
unnecessary regulation and preventing experienced sex educators from
educating Montana’s young people, teens would not get the reliable information they need to make healthy and responsible decisions about sex
so that we may reduce unintended pregnancies and STI rates.

HB 456 passed out of the House 67-30 and passed out of the Senate 26-24. Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed the bill on 4/13/11. There was an unsuccessful attempt to override the governor’s veto in the House. 

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote. 

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SB 176 sought to ban any insurance plan that is part of the insurance
exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act (federal health care reform) from providing abortion coverage as part of their plan. This went
one step beyond the Hyde Amendment and the Nelson provision to the
Affordable Care Act, by prohibiting women from using their own funds
to pay for abortion coverage. Additionally, President Obama signed an
executive order reinforcing that the Hyde Amendment is intact in the
ACA.

Women should not be denied access to reproductive-health services—a fundamental part of women’s health care—by politicians imposing their own opinions on private medical decisions. This restriction
would have made it virtually impossible for women to obtain insurance
coverage for abortion. 

SB 176 passed out of the House 66-32 and
passed out of the Senate 27-22. Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed the bill on
4/4/11.

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote.

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HB 544 was a “TRAP” law, or Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. TRAP laws single out the medical practices of doctors who provide abortion care and impose on them requirements that are different and more burdensome than those imposed on other medical practices. These laws increase the cost and scarcity of abortion services, harming women’s health and inhibiting their reproductive choices. 

HB 544 implied that women don’t have the capacity to make the decision to have an abortion by mandating that abortion providers provide invasive and offensive ‘screenings’ to test for mental and physical stability.

HB 544 passed the House 53-45 and was tabled in Senate Judiciary.

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote.

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HB 457 was an alternative to HB 167, starting as a pro-choice bill. This bill took into account the very serious issue of intimate partner violence against pregnant women and created the framework for perpetrators to be punished to the fullest extent of the law, without politicizing the issue by adding anti-choice rhetoric into the bill language. Unfortunately, the House Judiciary Committee amended the bill to include the language ‘harm to a pregnant woman OR HER UNBORN CHILD,' completely changing the intent of the bill and making it similar to HB 167 to the point that the choice community could no longer support it.

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HB 627 was a means for anti-choice legislators to push  parental notification through the Montana Legislative Session, bypass the governor’s desk and impending veto, and put a politically-charged issue on the 2012 
ballot.

HB 627 received the simple majority it needed to be placed on the
2012 ballot with a House vote of 65-35 and Senate vote of 28-22.

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote. (refer to SB 97 for our position on parental notification for abortion laws)

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HB 280 would have required all women seeking an abortion procedure to undergo an ultrasound, even if medically unnecessary and hear a vivid description of the image.  HB 280 was an egregious intrusion into medical care and was, at its core, designed to intimidate, shame, and harass women who seek to exercise their right to choose.

HB 280 failed in the House 47-53 with bipartisan opposition.

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote. 

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SJ 9 is a joint resolution asking the Montana Legislature to declare its support for a Parental Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. This concept started gaining traction in the mid-90s with support from right-wing extremists, and sprouted in response to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Such an amendment to the US Constitution would rob young people of the ability to make decisions about their reproductive futures.

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SB 97 required young women seeking an abortion under the age of 16 to notify a parent or appear before a judge in order to have the procedure. Parental Notification laws were already declared unconstitutional by the Montana Court system. The Legislature cannot mandate health family communication where it doesn’t exist. Some teens live in troubled or abusive homes. This law puts vulnerable teenagers in harm’s way or forces them to go through the court system. 

SB 97 passed out of the Senate 30-20 and passed out of House 65-32. Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed the bill on 5/12/11.

A “no” vote is a pro-choice vote.

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