Nov. 17—Republican legislators in northwestern Montana expressed dismay at the approval of a ballot measure enshrining the right to abortion in the state constitution but pointed out that there is little recourse available to change the outcome without a state ban.
The measure, CI-128, received the support of 58% of voters nationwide in the November 5 election with 344,410 votes in favor and 251,846 against. The ballot measure upholds a state Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right to privacy that protects the right to an abortion.
Elizabeth Hubble, director of the women’s, gender and sexuality studies program at the University of Montana, said the broad support for the plan in the heavily Republican state “shows that conservatives still understand the importance of health care.” “
Protection, according to Hubble, will make it difficult for anti-abortion legislation to pass at the federal level.
Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, who has been an anti-abortion advocate throughout her political career, described the result as disappointing.
“There were a lot of false messages to those who wanted a yes vote,” he said. “The idea that people want the government to make health care decisions, the government controls all kinds of health care decisions.”
The plan, according to the ballot language, “would amend the Montana Constitution to expressly provide for the right to self-determination and to make decisions about one’s pregnancy, including the right to have an abortion.”
It prohibits the government from prohibiting an abortion before the child is viable or an abortion “to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.” It also prohibits the government from punishing patients, health care providers or others who assist someone in “exercising her right to make voluntary decisions about her pregnancy.”
Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, feels the measure’s language about providers gives immunity to “so-called health care professionals.”
More than 250 doctors across the country endorsed the program before the election.
Like Fuller, Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, said the plan is too broad, ill-defined and has no boundaries.
“I think the language in it was very bad, and it’s going to go a lot further than anybody expected,” Glimm said, predicting that a federal judge could use the protections under CI-128 and extend it beyond standard health care.
Heading into the 2025 legislative session, Regier wants to bring in an education component in response to CI-128, whether that’s pre-procedure consent or education about fetal development.
Generally, health experts say that the baby’s labor starts between 20 to 25 weeks. Most abortions across the country occur in the first trimester before 13 weeks.
Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, R-Kalispell, plans to file a “paternity during pregnancy” petition. The law would adjust child support obligations to begin at conception if there is no question of paternity, but the details are still being worked out.
“The common ground is just the idea that I want to see men and women equally responsible for the lives they’ve created,” Sprunger said.
With legislation targeting abortion access now unconstitutional, Fuller suggested there may be other ways to advance the anti-abortion agenda.
“When it comes to the law regarding the amendment of the constitution, there is not much that the legislature can do,” said Fuller. “That needs to be sued at the federal level, but that’s not my role.”
He hopes CI-128 is deemed unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution because it “denies due process to the unborn child.”
CI-128 ORGANIZERS collected more than 117,000 signatures qualifying for the ballot measure, far exceeding the 60,000 signatures required.
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, the group behind the initiative, then raised nearly $12 million to support the measure, according to OpenSecrets, compared to more than $100,000 raised by groups against it.
Conservative-leaning Flathead County did not support the measure with nearly 31,000 both for and against it. As of Wednesday, voters in Flathead County had cast 61 more ballots against the measure than in favor of it.
“The Flathead Valley is a huge protected area,” Glimm said of the result.
Similarly, in the 2022 election, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act — which would have required medical providers to provide life-saving care to babies at any stage of development — failed by 6% of the vote statewide. Voters in Flathead County voted for the plan by 6%.
Abortion access measures were decided by voters in nine other states this election. Of the 10 states, only three failed to pass the protections, leaving a strict ban.
The election comes more than two years after Roe v. Wade, which ended the constitutional right to abortion and transferred the decision to individual states.
President-elect Donald Trump has indicated on the campaign trail that a ban on abortion is off the table.
“I don’t support the ban on abortion, but it doesn’t matter because the issue has been taken up by the states,” Trump said during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at [email protected] or 758-4459.
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