In Montana, Abortion Rights Groups Submit Signatures for Ballot Measure in November

A coalition of abortion rights groups in Montana announced Friday that it had submitted enough signatures to put a measure on the November ballot that would ask voters to affirm a right to reproductive freedom in the State Constitution.

Montana would join four other states — Colorado, South Dakota, Florida and New York — with similar ballot measures this fall. The signatures must be certified by county clerks, who send them to the secretary of state, who has until Aug. 22 to set the ballot questions. Organizers said they submitted more than 117,000 signatures, well clear of the 60,039 required.

Abortion is legal in Montana until viability, or roughly 24 weeks of pregnancy, because its highest court ruled in 1999 that the state Constitution’s provisions on privacy protect a right to abortion.

Leaders of the coalition, Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, say the explicit constitutional right to abortion will prevent the Republican-controlled Legislature or future courts from undoing the 1999 ruling.

Abortion rights groups in six other states are collecting signatures for citizen-sponsored ballot measures for November. Those include presidential battleground states like Arizona, where Democrats hope that strong support for abortion rights can lift the fortunes of President Biden.

Montana reliably votes Republican in presidential contests, but Democrats hope that turnout for the ballot measure could help Senator Jon Tester in a tough fight for re-election.