For the past two years, we’ve watched Republicans push ‘abortion trafficking’ laws to restrict minors’ ability to leave their states for care. And for just as long, I’ve warned that this was never going to stop at teens—that what happens to young people today comes for the rest of us tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow is here. Montana Republicans have introduced a first-of-its-kind bill that would criminalize women for getting certain out-of-state abortions, accusing them of ‘trafficking’ their own fetuses.

And regardless of what happens in Montana, this bill has stark implications for the whole country. Republicans have broken a legislative seal—signaling that they’re coming for women’s right to travel.

I’ll get into those national implications shortly—along with a hot tip about the group that may be behind the legislation—but first let’s talk about the bill itself.

Montana House Bill 609

House Bill 609 would criminalize anyone who leaves Montana to obtain an abortion that would be illegal within the state. An example: Montana only allows abortion after fetal ‘viability’ if the pregnant person’s life is at risk. That means if a woman learned at 26 weeks that her fetus had a fatal abnormality and got out-of-state care, she could be charged with ‘abortion trafficking’ for “transporting” her fetus across state lines.

It’s a clever way to punish women: Claim you’re not arresting them for the abortion, just for the ‘trafficking.’ (They’re trying this with ‘coercion,’ as well.)

“Had a bill like this been law at the time, I wouldn’t just be a grieving mother, I’d be a felon,” Anne Angus tells me. The 35-year-old left Montana for an abortion in 2022, after her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition. She was 24 weeks pregnant—which was past the legal abortion window at the time. Under HB 609, she could have faced years in prison. “All for fleeing the state to give my son the compassion and dignity he deserved,” she says.

Anyone who helped Angus could have been charged as well. Because Republicans are determined to chip away at community support, HB 609 criminalizes anyone who “aids or assists another person in transporting an unborn child.” That means a partner, a friend, even someone who chipped in for gas money could be arrested.

It gets worse. There’s also a possibility1 that HB 609 would allow women who get out-of-state abortions to be charged with “deliberate, mitigated, or negligent homicide”—a crime punishable by up to 40 years in prison:

Though Montana voters recently passed a pro-choice ballot measure, it only protects abortion rights until ‘viability.’ HB 609 sidesteps that protection by targeting later abortions and others illegal under state law. As Stephanie McDowell, Executive Director of Bridgercare—which supports a network of 20 family planning clinics across Montana—told me, “We are seeing Republicans go after the loopholes that we left in these ballot initiatives.”

That’s what makes me wonder if anti-abortion activists chose Montana specifically as a testing ground for their ‘trafficking’ legislation: By starting in a state where abortion is legal until ‘viability,’ it gives Republicans a certain amount of PR cover. They can pretend this isn’t about restricting women’s right to travel—just about stopping ‘late’ abortion.

The National Stakes

Let’s be very clear: This is Republicans’ first open attempt to criminalize women’s travel. No matter what happens in Montana, that is a huge fucking deal.

My suspicion? This bill was drafted by an anti-abortion group and released as part of a broader national strategy. In fact, a Montana source tells me that multiple attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) have been in the state capitol building “every day this session.” For those who need a reminder: ADF is the conservative legal powerhouse behind the end of Roe, attacks on mifepristone, and pretty much every other large attack on abortion rights.

Do I know for sure that they’re behind the legislation? No. But I wouldn’t be surprised if similar bills start appearing in other states soon. The end goal has always been the same: punishing women for abortion, no matter when or where they have one.

After all, earlier ‘abortion trafficking’ laws passed in Idaho and Tennessee—framed as protections for minors—were never just about teens. They were a test run for the broader crackdown Republicans had planned all along. (There’s a reason that one of my book’s chapters is titled, “Teens are the Canaries in the Coal Mines.”)

Some conservatives aren’t even trying to hide their real agenda. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, for example, wrote in a 2023 legal brief that the state could restrict women’s travel for abortion in the same way it restricts the movements of sex offenders. Seriously. He argued that just as the government has an interest in protecting potential victims of sexual violence, it also has a “strong, legitimate interests including preserving unborn life.”

Then there’s Texas, where multiple counties have already passed ‘abortion trafficking’ ordinances that make it illegal to transport a woman—of any age—out of state for an abortion using county roads and highways. When Mark Lee Dickson, the anti-abortion activist behind these ordinances, was asked how they could be called ‘trafficking’ laws when they apply to grown women choosing to leave, his answer said it all: “The unborn child is always taken against their will.”

And that’s the rub: HB 609 and the trial balloons that came before it aren’t just about punishing pregnant people, but establishing fetal personhood. Most conservatives propose legislation that let them dance around that unpopular position—even crafting policies they believe make them seem women-friendly. (Why admit you want an embryo to have more rights than a woman when you can just pass a bill mandating custody payments at fertilization?)

But the slow creep of extremism is speeding up—and anti-abortion radicalism is being normalized along the way. HB 609 is being introduced alongside a wave of bills across multiple states that would charge abortion patients with murder. These so-called ‘equal protection’ laws are being pushed by an extremist faction of the anti-abortion movement that calls itself ‘abolitionists.’ And while Republicans like to pretend these activists are outliers, their legislation is gaining steam—and cosponsors—with every passing month.

Just a few days ago, I reported that one of those ‘abolitionists’—Oklahoma Sen. Dusty Deevers—hinted that his legislation could also be used to criminalize out-of-state abortions, if the courts allow it.

In other words, all of this shit is connected—the extremist legislators, the big conservative legal groups, the local anti-abortion activism, and the sneaky ‘trafficking’ language. HB 609 is just their latest group project. And whatever happens with this particular piece of legislation, the die has been cast.

Wendy Heipt, Senior Reproductive Justice Counsel at Legal Voice and one of the attorneys who fought Idaho’s ‘abortion trafficking’ law, agrees. She calls the HB 609 “the next step in an extremist agenda to control pregnant people.”

“Regardless of the fate of this bill, we can see this latest attempt for what it is—the next step in making sure pregnant people are not able to make the their own decisions about their bodies, their futures, and their pregnancies, regardless of their age, their situation, or their health.”

What’s Next

HB 609 will be heard in the Montana House Judiciary committee on Wednesday morning, and I’ll paying close attention to what happens there. In the meantime, you can reach out to the bill sponsors at these links: Reps. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, Jane Gillette, Lukas Schubert, and Braxton Mitchell.

Please know this: as frightening as this is, foresight is powerful—and we can fight back. We can also work to prevent similar attacks by pushing for full protections for everyone, especially the most vulnerable among us.

It’s no accident that HB 609 targets later abortion patients by exploiting Montana’s fetal viability “loophole.” Just like it’s no coincidence that earlier ‘trafficking’ laws focused on teens, or that women on parole or probation are already restricted from leaving their states for abortion. The people first and most affected are often the first to be abandoned—even by our own movement. But if we fight for all of us, there will be no one left behind for conservatives to attack.