Abortion Clinic Licensing Law Blocked by Montana’s Top Court

Montana, for now, can’t enforce a law requiring abortion clinics to be licensed or administrative rules setting out the minimum standards they must meet to qualify, the state’s top court said.

The provisions likely violate clinics’, providers’, and patients’ rights to equal protection under the state’s constitution, the Montana Supreme Court said Tuesday. The top court affirmed a lower court order halting the measures’ enforcement before trial in an opinion by Justice Laurie McKinnon.

A prior slate of Montana justices said the state Constitution protected the right to obtain an abortion. The court reaffirmed that ruling in a June 2025 ...