Montana Becomes Eighth State with Ballot Measure Seeking to Protect Abortion Rights

Ballot Measure on Abortion Rights

In a latest political development, Montana has become the eighth state in the United States to present a ballot measure seeking to safeguard the right to an abortion. Following verification by the Montana Secretary of State’s Office, this initiative will now be part of the upcoming general election ballot. Seven other states have previously put forth similar amendments to their constitutions, making Montana the latest to join this growing list.

The Impetus Behind the Move

The decision to introduce the constitutional protection for abortion rights is grounded in a Montana Supreme Court ruling from 1999, which affirmed that the constitutional right to privacy encompasses the right to a pre-viability abortion. This is carried out by a provider of the patient’s choice. However, following the landmark reversal of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, the authority to regulate abortion was turned over to individual states, sparking renewed commitment to protect this right.

“After the overturning of Roe, extreme anti-abortion politicians have tried every trick in the book to rob us of our freedoms and impose a total ban on abortion,” remarked the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Montana, Martha Fuller.

Recent Legislative Developments in Montana

In 2023, legislators in Montana, largely driven by the Republican majority, enacted a law stating that the right to privacy does not extend to the right to an abortion. This law, however, has not yet been met with court challenges. Furthermore, attempts were made to block the constitutional amendment from entering the ballot, which led to a series of lawsuits.

For example, Montana’s Republican Attorney General initially ruled the proposed ballot measure as legally inadequate. Following the overruling of his decision by the Montana Supreme Court, the Attorney General modified the ballot language. Resultantly, the high court ended up creating its own language for the initiative’s petitions.

The Journey to Ballot Inclusion

There were further complications when the Secretary of State’s Office released new rules stating that the signatures of inactive voters would not be counted, breaking from a nearly 30-year-old precedent. Consequently, supporters had to resort to litigation to secure the verification of the signatures of inactive voters. In the end, the measure managed to garner upwards of 81,000 signatures, thus meeting the requirement of over 60,000 signatures and qualification from at least 40 out of the 100 state House districts.

Past Attempts to Limit Abortion Rights

In the past, Republican lawmakers have made a number of attempts to undermine the state Supreme Court’s 1999 ruling that protects abortion rights, including making requests for the state Supreme Court to backtrack on its previous ruling. Moreover, during the 2021 and 2023 legislative sessions, several bills aiming to restrict abortion access were passed, including one that reiterated that the constitutional right to privacy does not apply to abortion rights. However, some of these laws, such as those instituting a 24-hour waiting period for medication abortions and a ban on prescription of medication abortions via telehealth services, were blocked by courts due to the 1999 ruling.

The Road Ahead

Notably, all seven states that have brought forward constitutional amendments to protect abortion rights after Roe was overturned – namely California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana Ohio, and Vermont – have seen these measures passed by voters. However, just last year, an attempted referendum to impose criminal charges on healthcare providers who fail to take necessary actions to preserve the life of an infant born alive, including following an attempted abortion, was rejected by voters in Montana. The upcoming election will thus prove definitive in shaping the future of abortion rights in the state.