4, Maybe 5, Anti-Abortion Bills Transmitted to Senate

The first half of the 2023 Montana Legislative Session has officially come to a close. Our legislators are taking a much needed, though very short, break. They will resume meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, March 8th.

How a Bill Becomes Law

In order for a bill to be signed into law it must be presented to either the House of Representatives or the Senate during the first half of the legislative session. Whichever chamber the bill was introduced into will hear the bill and decide whether or not to pass it. If the presented bill DOES PASS in the chamber that it was originally presented in, that still means a bill is only HALF WAY THERE to becoming official law.

If the original chamber decides the bill is a DO PASS, that means it has only passed IN THAT CHAMBER. For example, if a bill was introduced to the House of Representatives at the beginning of the legislative session and they decide to pass the bill, that means it has only passed the House but still needs to pass in the Senate. The bill has to be transferred to the other half of the legislature and also passed in that chamber in order to be written into law.

The transferring of a bill from one branch to the other is called “transmittal” and the deadline for that was Friday, March 3rd. The only exception to this is if a bill technically passes in that branch but the financial impact (ie: what the bill will cost taxpayers and the state of Montana) needs to be considered.

Now that you know how it works, here is the glorious recap of how anti-abortion bills fared in the first half of the 2023 Legislative Session.

5 Major Anti-Abortion Bills Have Passed

Five major anti-abortion bills were introduced into the House of Representatives at the beginning of the Legislative Session in January.

ALL FIVE HAVE PASSED and are in the transmittal process!

Below is a list of the bills with their bill number and title. Click on the bill number to be taken directly to that bill and read the fine print. You can also visit the Montana Legislature website for more information.

The Anti-Abortion Bills:

1. HB 786 - Require abortion facilities to report adverse effects from medication abortions (RU486 - the “abortion pill”).
   

2. HB 721 - Restricts an unborn child from a dismemberment abortion (includes suction/aspiration and surgical abortion).
   

3. HB 625 - Infant safety and care act (declares an infant born alive after an attempted abortion as a legal person).
   

4. HB 575 - Prohibit abortion of unborn viable children (24 weeks gestational age).
   

5. HB 544* - Provide requirements for coverage of abortion under Medicaid and CHIP (limits “tax-payer funded” abortions).

*HB 544 has passed its hearing committee in the House of Representatives but is now being heard by the Appropriations Committee in order to have the financial impact considered. We are hopeful it will pass in the House Appropriations Committee as well, but there is a chance it may die in this committee and not complete the current transmittal process.

THIS IS HUGE NEWS!!!

We can all definitely rejoice that these bills have passed the House of Representatives! However, the fight is only half won. We need to stay involved and continue to communicate with our Legislators as these bills move on to be heard in the Senate.

Stay plugged in to Abort Ignorance Montana for easy action steps of how you can make your voice known in the coming months.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE to end abortion in Montana.

The Senate will be meeting from the second week in March through May to discuss bills. Stay tuned and get subscribed to Abort Ignorance Montana for information about when and how to let the Senate know you are IN FAVOR of these bills.

Until then, REJOICE and thank your local House Representatives. Montana is taking a hard stand against abortion in our state and we are WINNING THE FIGHT!