Abortion-rights advocates have asked the Montana Supreme Court to force the secretary of state to allow signature gathering to begin on a ballot initiative. It’s part of a fast-moving legal back-and-forth ahead of a June deadline to collect signatures needed to certify the constitutional initiative for the ballot.
Republican Senate President Jason Ellsworth on Tuesday subpoenaed Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen to send the initiative’s language to a legislative committee. There, lawmakers would have up to two weeks to perform a legislative review. But, state Supreme Court justices have said that the initiative could move forward without legislative input.
Abortion-rights advocates will have to resubmit their request to the Montana Supreme Court, due to a legal technicality, if they want the court to act further.
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In past years, about 30 patients traveled to Montana annually to access abortion care. In 2023, the first year Idaho’s ban was in full effect, that number rose to 88.
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Montana Republicans met in Billings over the weekend to update their party’s platform. Montana Public Radio’s Shaylee Ragar was at the event and joined host Austin Amestoy to talk about the Republicans' debate on election law, immigration, abortion and party loyalty.
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After Roe v Wade was overturned in June 2022, doctors said a wave of young people started showing up in their offices asking for permanent birth control - like tubal ligations or vasectomies.
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Six Republican state lawmakers Thursday voted in disapproval of a proposed constitutional amendment to protect access to abortion.
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A campaign for a constitutional abortion rights amendment in Montana may soon begin collecting signatures to put the measure before voters this fall. But that process has been pushed back by Republican officials challenging the initiative’s content and by legal rulings.
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A constitutional amendment to protect abortion moves closer to getting on the ballot. The Republican fight with the judiciary keeps escalating. And the winner of the Republican eastern district congressional primary may boil down to who loves the Trump the most.