Calls on Montana Supreme Court to act

HELENA, MT. – Governor Greg Gianforte on May 24th, issued the following statement after a more than a year of litigation surrounding the injunction of a Montana law which banned the use of taxpayer funds for elective abortions:

“Our law to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions has been on hold for more than a year. For nearly 50 years, Congress has banned the use of federal taxpayer dollars for elective abortions, a position supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans. In 2023, I signed into law a commonsense measure to prevent state tax dollars from paying for the elective killing of unborn lives. Within days, far left interest groups sued to halt this reasonable bill and secured an injunction, which, shamefully, remains in place today.

“As a result, taxpayers continue to pay for elective abortions in Montana. Today, I renew my call for the Montana Supreme Court to issue a ruling that protects taxpayers’ hard-earned money from funding the elective slaughter of our most vulnerable, the unborn.”

The law, carried in legislation by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, in House Bill 862, brings Montana in line with the federal Hyde Amendment to bar the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions except to save the life of a woman or in cases of incest or rape.

As of May 8, 2024, the case has been fully briefed before the Montana Supreme Court.

In 2023, a Marist poll revealed that 60 percent of Americans either oppose or strongly oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.