Montana voters will decide on Election Day whether to cement abortion rights in the state’s constitution, according to Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen .
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights is the committee backing the ballot measure. It has successfully led efforts to secure nearly double the 60,039 signatures necessary to place Constitutional Initiative 128 on the ballot this November. Now certified by the state's top election official, the measure requires a simple majority vote to pass on Election Day.
“We’re excited that CI-128 will be on the ballot in November and Montana voters will finally have the opportunity to make their voices heard and protect reproductive rights in November,” MSRR spokeswoman Martha Fuller, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana, told KTVH in a statement. “We could not have accomplished this incredible feat without the dedication of our volunteers and supporters who want to protect their freedom and constitutional right to make private medical decisions. Montanans are ready to vote YES on CI-128.”
Montana is the eighth state to put abortion rights on the ballot this November. The measure encountered a setback earlier this year when Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, said the ballot initiative was “legally insufficient.” When the state’s high court overruled his concerns, Knudsen amended the ballot language, although the Montana Supreme Court later scrapped his work and rewrote the petition itself.
Abortion is legal in Montana until viability, which is the stage of pregnancy when the baby is able to survive outside the womb around the 24th week. The new ballot measure allows later abortions if necessary to protect the mother's life or health and prohibits the government "from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability."
Starting at 16, women can obtain abortions without a parent or guardian’s consent.
Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled it is unconstitutional to require minors to obtain parental consent in order to have an abortion.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Republican Tim Sheehy, who is challenging the incumbent Democrat in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, weighed in on the court’s decision.
"No politician should be in the business of making health care decisions for women," a spokesperson for Tester told Fox News. Tester has long advocated the expansion of abortion rights in the state, as the issue has become a pillar of the Democratic Party’s platform this election cycle.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Sheehy said “As the father of four young children, including two young daughters,” the Republican is “troubled” by the court’s decision, claiming that it “weakens parental rights and puts young girls at risk."
“Parents absolutely should be a part of their child’s health care,” Sheehy said.
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The most recent polls indicate Sheehy holds a lead over Tester after the senator began the year with a 9-point advantage.
Montana's latest ballot measure comes after voters rejected the LR-131 “Born-Alive” referendum, which supporters said was necessary to protect survivors of botched abortions, in November 2022.
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