Helena, The Montana adversary proceeding judge, granted a temporary restraining order, delaying the implementation of three laws of abortion access in Montana this Thursday evening before they set the laws to go into effect. District Court Judge Michael Moses issued the temporary warning order in effect for ten days, or until Moses' guidelines on a preliminary injunction requested by Planned Parenthood of Montana.
The judges state that the law would ban the after 20 weeks of pregnancy by restricting access to required abortion providers and abortion pills. Under this condition, a doctor should request the patient to ask if they would like to view an ultrasound. The law was implemented because the decision took place on Thursdays came after the state asked on Wednesday for the judge presiding over the case to rescue himself, arguing on the hearing about the abortion cases. District Court Judge Gregory Todd expressed personal bias and injustice against the voice regarding a discrete case. They related the hearing of a case to a new law changing the way judicial vacancies are filled. Todd Recused himself Thursday afternoon and was replaced with Moses.
Planned Parenthood of Montana filed a lawsuit in August seeking to block four laws, along with the three that would have to enforce in effect in October. 1. The suit names Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, as a defendant. The Alliance Defending Freedom represents the state with a conservative Christian legal group. Knudsen’s spokesperson Emilee Cantrell said in a statement that the attorney general” took action to hold a judge accountable for their egregious bias.”
The State’s move to disqualify Todd from the case was a “shocking delay tactic”, said Martha Stahl, president of Planned Parenthood of Montana. The call for Todd’s recusation launched a last-minute effort by Planned Parenthood to stop the law from going into effect. They registered an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court asking justices the temporarily blocking the enforcement of the new abortion laws until the matter of judge was resolved. They denied the previous petition after they appointed the new judge for the law. Planned Parenthood then requests that Moses grant a temporary restraining order while reviewing the call for a preliminary injunction. That request was granted.
Cantrell accused Planned Parenthood of “desperately trying to transposal Montana law at the eleventh hour and deprive pregnant women and unborn child of these common-sense health protections.” The medical experts broadly dispute that the new laws would make the procedure safer. Planned Parenthood has argued the laws violate Montana’s constitutional right to privacy, while they say to provide protection access to abortion before the fetus is viable at 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The laws were passed earlier this year by the republican-dominated Legislature and signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte, who last November became Montana’s first Republican governor in 16 years.
Also, his democratic predecessors blocked previous attempts to limit abortion access. Montana state joins several other GOP -led states in passing additional restrictions on abortion access in the current year.