Anti-abortion activists launched a petition drive in Billings on Friday to give legal rights to fertilized embryos.

The personhood amendment would change Montana's definition to include fertilized embryos, which would be protected against destruction in all cases. Amendment sponsor Montana Prolife Coalition has until next June 18 to gather the 48,673 signatures necessary to put the issue on the November 2010 ballot.

The Montana petition is part of state-by-state effort to undo the 1973 precedent set by Roe v. Wade, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that a mother may abort her pregnancy for any reason up until "the point at which the fetus becomes viable." Viable was defined as the fetus' ability to live outside the womb.

Viability at conception

The personhood amendment rolls back viability to conception.

"Some pro-life people think that Roe is here to stay and it ain't going away," said Bukacek, a Flathead County doctor specializing in internal medicine. "I think the state is very pro-life. I'm confident that it will be voted in."

Specifically, the amendment defines "person" as applying to "all human beings, irrespective of age, health, function, physical or mental dependency or methods, from the beginning of the biological development of that human being."

Critics have said the petition falls short by not providing language for the health of the mother and have cautioned about the broad sweeping consequences of protecting fertilized embryos in all cases.

However, the biggest challenge facing the amendment, officially titled Constitutional Initiative 102, might be getting on the ballot. Montana hasn't put abortion to a public vote in the past, despite its reputation as a state with conservative values. Four decades of petition records at the Secretary of State's office show only four petitions challenging abortion and none with enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

"I think a lot of the problem is we're all volunteers," said Bukacek, who was squeezing a brief afternoon petition rally into a Billings trip dominated by medical seminars. "We have nobody who is a paid person who can take this on."

Other petitions have done better. Records show petitioners getting 44 constitutional amendments on the Montana ballot since the Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion. Once on the ballot, 56 percent of those proposed amendments succeeded, according to state election records.

Hoping for support

Support doesn't come easy for constitutional amendments, said Craig Wilson, Montana State University Billings political-science professor. People generally won't vote for a ballot issue of they're not familiar with it or don't understand its language.

Unfamiliarity isn't the problem when it comes to issues like abortion. People know where they stand, and many feel strongly about their position, making it difficult to change their vote, Wilson said.

The professor sees better conditions for a petition opposing abortion than in recent years. Campaign rhetoric surrounding the issue softened in the last presidential election. To the extent candidate's words reflect public opinion, there could new support the personhood amendment.

New support will be needed. The 2008 version of the personhood amendment didn't qualify. It needed 44,461 signatures, a number equal to 10 percent of the votes from the previous governor's election.

The 2008 governor's election's attracted even more voters, raising the number of signatures needed to 48,643, an increase of 4,059.

Bukacek said the increase shouldn't be a hurdle. She and her husband gathered 8,000 signatures in Flathead County for the 2008 petition. State law requires that petitions collect at least 10 percent of the voters' signatures in each of 40 counties.

"Anything you do, whether its just one life you're standing up for, is worthwhile," Bukacek said. "I just don't have the capacity for apathy. We'll just keep plugging away."