On June 9, 2025, the Montana Supreme Court delivered a sweeping victory for WilmerHale client Planned Parenthood of Montana (PPMT), affirming a lower court’s decision to permanently block three state laws that would have drastically restricted abortion access across Montana. Had the restrictions gone into effect, they would have impacted not only Montanans, but also the countless patients in neighboring states forced to rely on PPMT because abortions are now illegal where they live.

The ruling was the culmination of four years of litigation and expanded Montana’s constitutional protections for reproductive rights. The Court confirmed that the Montana constitution’s right to privacy is broader than federal law, ruling that the challenged laws violated the state’s guarantees of equal protection and free speech.

The challenged laws, passed by the state legislature in 2021, would have:

• Banned abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy, cutting off access at a time when severe and life-ending fetal anomalies are often discovered.
• Severely limited access to medication abortion by banning the use of telehealth, imposing a 24-hour waiting period, and requiring providers to give patients false and misleading information about medication abortions.
• Shamed and stigmatized women seeking abortions by mandating that healthcare providers ask patients if they would like to view and listen to an “active” ultrasound of the fetus and documenting the patients’ choice.

WilmerHale filed suit on behalf of PPMT shortly after the laws were enacted, arguing they violated the Montana constitution’s express right to privacy and a seminal state supreme court decision holding that every Montanan has a “right to procreative autonomy” that includes “the right to seek and obtain pre-viability abortion services.”  

The firm secured a preliminary injunction in October 2021, successfully defended it before the Montana Supreme Court in August 2022 and won summary judgment on all claims in February 2024. The State appealed, and in June 2025 the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the decision in full.

In its opinion, the Supreme Court wrote: “Reproductive decisions are among the most intimate that a person may make in their lifetime. This includes the decision to obtain a pre-viability abortion and the decision to carry a pregnancy to term—both of which carry widely varying personal considerations, decisions, hardships, and desires that are deeply unique and personal.”

The Court also rejected the State’s argument that the US Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization undermined Montana’s protections for abortion, reaffirming that the state’s right to privacy is broader than and independent of federal law. As the Court wrote, Armstrong v. State—a 1999 Montana Supreme Court decision—“explicitly and unequivocally acknowledged that the right of individual privacy—encompassing the right to personal and procreative autonomy—is protected separately under Montana’s right to privacy, a broader provision independent of federal law.” In doing so, the Court reaffirmed that Montana’s constitutional protections for abortion stand on their own, regardless of changes in federal precedent like Dobbs.

The WilmerHale team was led by Michelle Nicole Diamond and Alex Miller, and included Alan Schoenfeld, Kim Parker, Nicole Rabner, Rishita Apsani, Peter Kurtz, Sean Chang, Rebecca Darin Goldberg, Gillian Farrell, Courtney Murray, Taylor Solomon, Allie Talus, and Lydia Turnage. The team was supported by Jennifer King, Nancy Tillotson, Zane Stucker, Kelly Davidson, Mendocino Steele, and Tom Ryan.

PPMT was also represented by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and local counsel Raph Graybill.