Abortion-rights advocates are asking the Montana Supreme Court to force the secretary of state to allow signature-collecting to begin on a ballot initiative. It’s the latest in a fast-moving legal back-and-forth ahead of a June deadline to collect signatures needed to certify the constitutional initiative to protect abortion access 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 suggested in a recent opinion Jacobsen could certify the initiative without legislative input.
Plaintiffs asked the court to clarify the status of the initiative by the end of Wednesday.
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The Montana Supreme Court has rephrased a proposed ballot initiative after its supporters and the state Attorney General clashed over the language. The initiative about abortion access can now advance.
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The Montana Supreme Court overturned the state attorney general’s block of a proposal that could amend the state’s Constitution to protect abortion access.
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The decision cited a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that said the state Constitution's right to privacy includes a woman's right to abortion access.
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Montana's western district congressional race is déjà vu all over again. Gov. Gianforte quietly announces he's running again, while his Democratic opponent hopes to make a loud splash. Republican Senatorial candidate Tim Sheehy goes full MAGA. Attorney General Austin Knudsen tries to keep an abortion initiative off the ballot.
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A pro-abortion group wants to enshrine abortion rights into the state Constitution. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana submitted the ballot proposition last week.
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A Helena judge has blocked four anti-abortion bills and a health department rule restricting Medicaid coverage of abortion while lawsuits challenging their constitutionality play out.