HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Voters will get to decide in November whether they want to protect the right to an abortion in the constitution of Montana, which on Tuesday became the eighth state to put the issue before the electorate this fall. The Montana Secretary of State’s Office certified that the general election ballot will include the initiative on abortion rights.
All but one of the eight states are seeking to amend their constitutions. Montana’s measure seeks to enshrine a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that said the constitutional right to privacy protects the right to a pre-viability abortion by a provider of the patient’s choice. Republican lawmakers in the state passed a law in 2023 saying the right to privacy does not protect the right to an abortion.
It has yet to be challenged in court. Opponents of the initiative made several efforts to try to keep it off the ballot, and supporters took several of the issues to court. Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen initially determined that the proposed ballot measure was legally insufficient.
After the Montana Supreme Court overruled him, Knudsen rewrote the ballot language to say the proposed amendment would “allow post-viability abortions up to birth,” eliminate “the State’s compelling interest in preserving prenatal life” and potentially “increase the number of taxpayer-funded abortions.” The high court ended up writing its own initiative language for the petitions used to gather signatures, a.