Correction - Students organize march to support CI-128

An article on the front page of the Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, edition of Havre Weekly Chronicle about a march organized to support CI-128 incorrectly said in the first paragraph the march was in support of Ci-126 and misspelled “presentation” in the second paragraph where it should have read “where a presentation on CI-126.”

The article also omitted the text of Ci-128, which it said would be included. Following is the full text of CI-128.

THE COMPLETE TEXT OF CONSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE NO. 128 (CI-128)

Article II of the Montana Constitution is amended to read:

Section 36. Right to make decisions about pregnancy.

(1) There is a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion. This right shall not be denied or burdened unless justified by a compelling government interest achieved by the least restrictive means.

(2) The government may regulate the provision of abortion care after fetal viability provided that in no circumstance shall the government deny or burden access to an abortion that, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional, is medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.

(3) The government shall not penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action against a person based on the person’s actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes. The government shall not penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action against a person for aiding or assisting another person in exercising their right to make and carry out decisions about their pregnancy with their voluntary consent.

(4) For purposes of this section:

(a) A government interest is “compelling” only if it clearly and convincingly addresses a medically acknowledged, bona fide health risk to a pregnant patient and does not infringe on the patient’s autonomous decision making.

(b) “Fetal viability” means the point in pregnancy when, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.

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