Shaylee Ragar

A Helena judge has blocked four anti-abortion bills and a health department rule restricting Medicaid coverage of abortion while lawsuits challenging their constitutionality play out.

Lawmakers passed a $14 billion budget and considered the most bills in one session since 1973. Montana Public Radio’s reporters in the statehouse Shaylee Ragar and Ellis Juhlin spoke with Corin Cates-Carney to break down what passed, what didn’t and how politics influenced it all.

LGBTQ advocates say these bills are another attempt to restrict transgender rights. Republicans sponsoring the bills say the definitions are important to keep sex from being conflated with gender.

Republicans, who dominate the Montana House of Representatives, have voted Wednesday to formally punish Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr.

Republicans in the Montana House have voted to formally punish Democratic state Rep. Zephyr by banning her from attending or speaking during floor sessions. She will be allowed to vote remotely.

Police in riot gear forcibly removed and arrested several protesters who chanted “Let her speak” in the Montana House of Representatives Monday after Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a Missoula Democrat, was blocked from speaking on a bill. Zephyr, the first transgender woman elected to office, was first blocked from speaking last week after she told supporters of a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors to “see the blood on their hands.”

State Rep. Zooey Zephyr has been barred from speaking following her controversial comments on legislation to ban gender-affirming care. Wednesday, the House could vote to censure or expel Zephyr.

The first of nearly a dozen anti-abortion bills have passed the Montana Legislature and are headed for the governor’s desk. Reproductive rights advocates rallied in Helena on the same day.

Republican lawmakers are sending a bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth in Montana to the governor for consideration.

Democratic lawmakers walked out of committee in protest on Tuesday during debate over proposed restrictions on abortion access.