HELENA — Opponents of last year’s voter-approved measure to enshrine abortion rights in the Montana Constitution are seeking to block it from taking effect – based not on its content, but on the way the state handles proposed amendments.
The Montana Family Foundation announced a legal case, asking the Montana Supreme Court to step in before Constitutional Initiative 128 takes effect July 1.
Two voters and the Montana Life Defense Fund, a committee linked with the Family Foundation, are named as plaintiffs. They’re arguing that the state constitution requires the entire text of a proposed amendment be printed on the ballot – not just a summary, as the state has done for decades.
“From 1978, each official ballot containing a proposed constitutional amendment was constitutionally deficie