The Montana legislature is dangerously close to making the state the first in the nation to revoke the right to medical aid in dying, stripping terminally ill residents of an option they have had for 15 years. Polling shows that more than 80% of Montanans support medical aid in dying for terminally ill individuals. Even more, nearly 90% oppose criminalizing doctors for providing this care.¹ 

So why are some legislators pushing a national agenda that directly contradicts the values of their own constituents? The Montana Senate’s passage of SB 136, which would criminalize doctors who provide medical aid in dying, and the House Judiciary Committee’s failure to advance HB 637, a bipartisan bill that would have secured these rights, show that some lawmakers are making it clear — they don’t care what their constituents want.

From Helena to Bozeman, to Billings to Great Falls, the people most impacted by these legislative attacks are rural families, veterans, farmers, firefighters and independent-minded individuals. Advocates, bipartisan legislative champions and volunteers are working tirelessly against this encroachment on the rights of Montanans. Many who believe in personal freedom are being forced into a situation where the state — not patients, their doctors, or their families — gets the final say on how they die.

For over a decade and a half, medical aid in dying in Montana has operated under the precedent set by Baxter v. Montana, a 2009 Montana Supreme Court ruling that found doctors who prescribe medical aid in dying may have a defense against criminal prosecution. But that ruling never explicitly granted permission — only the possibility of a legal defense if a physician was ever charged. Despite this legal ambiguity, the practice has become normalized because Montanans want it, and doctors and health systems have seen the need and responded accordingly. Now, some lawmakers are attempting to end the practice of good medicine, push patients back into enduring intense pain and suffering and put physicians into court and potentially jail. 

Medical aid in dying has been practiced in Montana since 2009 — not because of lawmakers, but because of Montanans themselves. The practice has grown through patient demand and the willingness of healthcare providers to meet their patient’s needs and provide quality end-of-life care. Now, some of those same legislators who have benefited from the support of their people are attempting to take away a right that has been quietly, yet powerfully, embedded as a cornerstone of end-of-life care in the state.

The battle over medical aid in dying in Montana is not an isolated event; it is part of a national trend where patient autonomy is increasingly under attack. Who gets to decide what medical care a person gets: the individual, with their doctor and family, or the government?

The reality is that the majority of people — whether in Montana or nationwide — want the right to make their own healthcare decisions, including how they die. Legislators should be working to secure these freedoms, not strip them away.

Montanans have never been the type to let the government tell them how to live, they shouldn’t let it tell them how to die, either.

On March 24, 2025, the Montana House Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 in favor of SB 136, the bill now moves to the House floor. Visit the Compassion & Choices Montana page for all of the latest updates on SB 136 and the fight to preserve patient autonomy in the state. 

¹ Montana Statewide Public Opinion Survey – Cross Tabulation Reports, February 2023. Accessed at: https://bit.ly/MTXTabs2023

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