HELENA — Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen on Thursday certified that Constitutional Initiative 128, the proposal to create a specific protection for abortion rights in the Montana Constitution, has received the required number of signatures and can appear on the November ballot.
The announcement, two days before a March 22 deadline to certify ballot issues, launches the multi-month fight over whether to solidify abortion access in Montana into a new phase. Similar campaigns in other states, including Arizona and Missouri, have also recently received certification to bring the issue to voters this fall.
While abortion is currently legal in Montana under the state Constitution’s right of privacy, backers of the proposal say it will further safeguard access in a national legal landscape roiled by the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The sponsor group for CI-128, Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, celebrated the announcement in an emailed statement Thursday night.
“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,” said Martha Fuller, head of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana, one of the members of the group. “The government cannot overstep into our most personal healthcare decisions, and Montanans must vote Yes on 128 to protect their right to abortion and pregnancy-related care.”
If approved by voters, CI-128 would create a new section of the Montana Constitution that explicitly establishes a right “to carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion. This right shall not be denied or burdened unless justified by a compelling government interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”
The measure faced a series of legal hurdles earlier this year after Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, determined it to be “legally insufficient” and then drafted summary ballot language that Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights took issue with. The Montana Supreme Court ultimately wrote a new ballot statement intended to neutrally convey the initiative’s substance to voters.
Later in the summer, CI-128 backers again went to court, along with the sponsor of two other constitutional initiatives, to challenge Jacobsen’s decision to block inactive voters from counting toward the minimum threshold of signatures required for the proposal to make the ballot. A state district court judge eventually sided with the plaintiffs, finding that Jacobsen had changed the state’s protocol after signatures had been submitted.
As of Thursday evening, Jacobsen, a Republican, had not certified CI-126 and CI-127, two proposals to overhaul Montana’s primary election system.
Opponents of CI-128 include the Montana Family Foundation, Pro-Life Montana, and the national group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, all of which have already begun urging voters — through door knocking, tabling events and leaflet handouts — not to support the measure.
Among other arguments, some opponents have pointed out that the language of CI-128 does not explicitly allow for parental involvement in a minor’s abortion and could still allow for abortions after fetal viability in order to protect “the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
“Montana deserves the truth about CI-128. This amendment is too extreme: it allows for late term abortion after viability and eviscerates parental rights. These out-of-state interests should leave Montana’s Constitution alone,” said Derek Oestreicher, chief legal counsel for the Montana Family Foundation, in a Thursday night comment.
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, which includes the ACLU of Montana and Forward Montana, has raised millions in contributions in support of CI-128. As of June, major contributors included political action groups Think Big America-MT, the Sixteen Thirty Fund and The Fairness Project, all of which are registered out of state.
The Montana Family Foundation was one of the organizers of an effort to videotape signature gatherers for CI-128 over the summer, a strategy Oestreicher and his colleague, Patrick Webb, said was intended to disrupt and dissuade signature gathering.
On Thursday evening, hours before Jacobsen announced CI-128’s certification, Webb moderated an online webinar called “CI-128 Weekly Update Call,” attended by MTFP and roughly 30 others.
When the news came down, Webb told participants he wouldn’t discuss the group’s strategy for opposing the initiative between now and November, but encouraged attendees to be involved.
“This is indeed going to be on the November ballot,” Webb said. “Just be aware that this is no longer a hypothetical. This is a reality.”
