At least four of the five abortion clinics in Montana will not provide abortion pills to patients from states where "trigger laws" have gone into effect, according to NPR.
The trigger laws were designed to go into effect when Roe v. Wade was struck down.
Planned Parenthood of Montana instituted a policy on June 30 banning its abortion clinics from providing abortion pills to neighboring states with trigger laws. At the time, abortions bans were in place in neighboring South Dakota and pending in Idaho, Wyoming, and North Dakota.
Martha Fuller, president of Planned Parenthood of Montana, had written in an internal memo that the risks of cross-state provision of services were unclear, NPR reported.
In the memo, she cited questions surrounding the potential for civil and criminal action against those providing medicine that would end a pregnancy to people from states with bans in effect.
The three Planned Parenthood clinics will still provide abortion procedures to out of state residents, NPR noted.
"Right now, we believe that that is the best way of ensuring that out-of-state patients are not afraid to access the essential follow-up care they may need because of the intimidation and fear-mongering of extreme anti-abortion politicians," said Laura Terrill, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Montana.
The 19th News quoted Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, as saying: "Planned Parenthood of Montana, like all of our affiliates across the country, are not making decisions about health services lightly. Just like other abortion providers, Planned Parenthood providers are being forced to make very difficult operational decisions due to the rapidly shifting landscape of access in many states."
A fourth abortion center, the Blue Mountain Clinic of Missoula, said it is only providing medication abortion care to those with a Montana address, the Missoulian reported.
The remaining clinic, All Families Healthcare in Whitefish, declined to answer questions about out-of-state patients, NPR said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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