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Abortion ban falls short, foes say
44,000 signatures from voters needed to get CI-100 on ballot
By JENNIFER McKEE
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA - Opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban abortion by defining a fertilized human egg as a "person" announced Tuesday that the measure has failed to gain enough support to qualify for the November ballot.
Constitutional Initiative 100 would have changed the constitution to define a "person" as a fertilized egg and conferred to it all the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Supporters of the effort needed more than 44,000 signatures from Montana voters to qualify the proposed change for the November ballot. Oppo-nents, led by a group of 25 organizations, said Tuesday that according to their research, proponents gathered only 21,280 signatures.