NARAL Pro-Choice Montana: P.O. Box 279 Helena, MT  59624 406.443.0276 prochoice@mt.net

 

HB 460: Fetal Pain Prevention Act

Sponsored by Rep. Penny Morgan (R-Billings)

This bill would have required that women be given the choice to anesthetize the fetus. Women are already given anesthesia before an abortion is performed. HB 460 would have forced doctors to offer women an experimental medical procedure not currently practiced in any state. Doctors refusing to offer this experimental procedures would have faced felony charges. This bill passed on Second Reading on a close vote. After an intensive voter mobilization effort organized by NARAL and its allies, this bill was defeated on Third Reading (46-52).

Click below to see how your Montana legislators voted.  (A yes vote is anti-choice.)

HB 460 Voting Record (pdf)

Why NARAL Pro-Choice Montana was against HB 460: HB 460 is part of a broader anti-choice strategy to use fear and coercion to prevent women from having abortions.  It required experimental procedures and threatened doctors with criminal charges for acting in their patients’ best interest.  This bill targets reproductive health clinics by creating medically unnecessary regulations and unconstitutional restrictions.

Talking Points:

• HB 460 was medically unnecessary and unsound.  Abortion providers already anesthetize a woman by use of a cervical block.  Because of the way a woman’s blood circulates, the anesthesia travels first to the fetus.  The abortion does not begin until both drugs have been absorbed by the woman’s body.

Doctors and health care providers already have a duty to ensure that women receive accurate information and appropriate care.  Failure to do so violates standards of care.

There is no other known statutory scheme for any other medical procedure that is this burdensome.

• HB 460 was unconstitutional and unenforceable. The Montana Supreme Court has decided that legislators should not determine medical standards based on  political ideology and pressure from vocal anti-choice groups.  Furthermore, the medical community should set the standards based on their collective professional expertise and judgment.

 

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