From their opponents’ perspective, that change left the courts as the last line of defense of abortion rights, one they are focused on protecting.

Munis and Jessi Bennion, who teaches political science at Montana State University, said abortion rights groups in Montana have momentum after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade.

That decision resulted in voters becoming motivated by the issue and a wave of ballot questions. Montanans, for example, rejected a measure that would have required doctors to provide medical care after premature births and failed abortions, which opponents said was already the law.

For now, Montanans may have abortions any time before fetal viability, which under Montana code is “presumed” to be about 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Patients can go to one of six providers in the state or make a telehealth appointment and receive pills in the mail.

That makes Montana the most abortion-friendly state in the largely conservative and rural region between Minnesota and the Pacific Northwest.

Montana is sandwiched between Idaho and the Dakotas, which severely restrict abortion. To the south is Wyoming, where abortion pills are available through telehealth, but lawmakers there have passed a bill that could temporarily shutter the only clinic in the state that provides in-person abortions, depending on what action Republican Gov. Mark Gordon takes. Abortion is legal in Canada, Montana’s northern neighbor, but Americans need a passport to travel there.

An attempt to further cement abortion rights in Montana is facing an obstacle. Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen has rejected the proposed abortion rights constitutional amendment as being legally insufficient, which prompted the campaign behind the initiative to file a lawsuit. The State Supreme Court will now decide if initiative organizers may proceed with gathering signatures.

Analysts and Montana leaders — including some Republicans — think there’s a good chance voters will approve the constitutional amendment if it appears on the ballot.

“We’re a Republican state, but there’s always historically been a kind of a libertarian streak in it,” said Steve Fitzpatrick, an attorney and the majority leader in the Montana Senate. “It’s not unusual to see Republicans winning up and down the ballot and then seeing something like marijuana be legalized at the same time.”

Abortion will also be an undercurrent in two state Supreme Court races. Chief Justice Mike McGrath and Justice Dirk Sandefur, who both ruled against efforts to unravel the state’s abortion protections, decided not to seek reelection.

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