HB 393, OPPOSE (sponsored by Rep. Sue Vinton, R-Billings) would direct per-pupil state funds from school districts into savings accounts to reimburse the parents of special needs students for educational costs outside their public school. We need to support funding, training, and staffing for public schools to provide services instead of pulling that funding away from our public schools. We need to support student care, not parental bankrolling.

What: HB 303 - Allows providers to refuse any type of health service for any reason, including abortions.  

Position: OPPOSE



Ask: Please contact the Governor’s office and ask to oppose HB 303. 

Talking Points:

• Current law allows hospitals and providers to refuse to provide abortion altogether. There is no exception for urgent medical needs. 
• This bill is modeled after legislation drafted by a national anti-abortion group that has pushed this bill in many states this session. This is not about solving a problem in Montana, but is instead driven by national anti-abortion lobbyists as part of their effort to end access to abortion. 
• The bill does not include any patient protections. An employee who refuses to treat someone does not have to ensure that the patient has comprehensive information about their health status, diagnosis or prognosis. They can refuse to provide a referral and fail to ensure that patients get needed care elsewhere. 
• This bill is extreme and will harm patients in Montana. 

What: SB 93 - Weakens Montanans’ rights to bring citizen initiatives

Position: OPPOSE

Where: Governor’s office, waiting for Governor Gianforte’s decision.

Ask: Please contact the Governor’s office and ask to oppose SB 93. Contact info here

Talking Points: 

• This bill endangers Montanans’ right to citizen initiatives by charging a new $3,700 filing fee for any citizen who wants to propose a ballot initiative, like the one that legalized marijuana.
• In a democracy, citizens shouldn’t have to pay to exercise their rights.
• On top of that, this bill makes it even more difficult to get petitions on the ballot by adding additional hoops that signature gathers have to hop through. 
• Politicians should never weaken the rights of the citizens.

What: SB 154 - Limits the right to privacy to exclude the right to abortion

Position: OPPOSE

Where: Governor’s office, waiting for Governor Gianforte’s decision.

Ask: Please contact the Governor’s office and ask to oppose SB 154. Contact info here

Talking Points: 

• Montana’s right to privacy is enshrined in our constitution – politicians cannot just pick and choose which parts they’d like to follow
• SB 154 would carve out the right to reproductive care from the Constitutional privacy clause – this is unconstitutional.
• Constitutionality aside, politicians should not be inserting their own control over reproductive health care and health care privacy – Montanans have made it clear that our right to privacy is important to us.

What: SB 99 - Restricts gender-affirming health care for trans, nonbinary, and two-spirited Montanans.

Position: OPPOSE

Where: Governor’s office, waiting for Governor Gianforte’s decision.

Ask: Please contact the Governor’s office and ask to oppose SB 99. Contact info here

Talking Points:

• The government should not be legislating private health and medical decisions 
• This bill is a gross invasion of personal privacy between Montanans and their health care professionals – and it has potentially deadly consequences. 
• Studies show that when transgender youth are able to access gender affirming care, suicidality drops by 70% 
• This bill also makes healthcare access more difficult for any family seeking medical attention for their child who is intersex or has a birth defect 
• This is a bill in search of a problem: surgeries are not a reality for minors under 18, and gender affirming care is done in a thoughtful way

What: HB 575- Prohibit abortion of “unborn viable children”

Position: OPPOSE

Where: Governor’s office, waiting for Governor Gianforte’s decision.

Ask: Please contact the Governor’s office and ask to oppose HB 575. Contact info here.

Talking Points: 

• We should all be able to make our own personal, private health care decisions without politicians standing in the way.
• This bill poses a serious threat to pregnant people’s health, ignoring individual needs and circumstances and seeking to ban abortions at a time during pregnancy when pregnant people and their families face especially difficult circumstances. 
• This legislation is a solution in search of a problem. Montana law already prohibits abortion after viability. 
• Current law leaves providers room to use their best judgment when making decisions about complicated circumstances. This bill, on the other hand, limits providers’ options and threatens felony charges.
• Politicians nationwide have passed over 300 such laws over the last five years. These restrictions have a disproportionate impact on those who already face far too many barriers to health care as people of color, people living in rural areas, and people with low incomes.

What: HB 721 - Essentially, a 12 week abortion ban

Position: OPPOSE

Where: Governor’s office, waiting for Governor Gianforte’s decision.

Ask: Please contact the Governor’s office and ask to oppose HB 721. Contact info here.

Talking Points:

Background: This bill would ban the most common method of second trimester abortion. Such a ban is not medically justified. Physicians would be forced to use additional procedures on their patients that are not necessarily as safe.  

• HB 721 is an attempt to eliminate access to abortion
• They layers of restrictions in the state would ultimately eliminate access to abortion completely
• HB 721 was not designed to protect women’s health and could harm women in Montana
• Women should be able to make their own medical decisions with their doctors.
• HB 721 would allow politicians to stand in the way of a woman’s decision and a doctor’s recommendation.