Organizers have collected around 800,000 signatures and need 383,923 of them for the petition to be considered valid. If successful, Arizona voters will be asked whether they want to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution.

Activists in two other states – Nebraska and Arkansas – also plan to submit signatures for abortion ballots this week. If successful, these states and Arizona will join five others where the issue will be on the ballot this year: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.

Arizona is a swing state in this year's election, and the abortion issue is a central part of Democratic campaigns. Opponents of the amendment say it goes too far and could lead to unlimited and unregulated abortions in Arizona.

Officials from Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and Planned Parenthood of Arizona, will drop off hundreds of boxes of signed petitions at the Arizona Secretary of State's office Wednesday morning.

Dawn Penich, spokeswoman for Arizona for Abortion Access, said it was the highest number of signatures ever submitted for a citizen's initiative in the state's history.

“That was our goal from the beginning,” said Penich. “We started collecting signatures in September and October 2023 and saw how passionate people are about this issue.”

Election officials said Aug. 22 is the deadline for county registrars to verify signatures on petitions and submit certified results to the Arizona Secretary of State's office.

If approved by voters on Nov. 5, the proposed ballot bill would allow abortions in Arizona until a fetus can survive outside the womb, which is usually about 24 weeks, with exceptions if the mother's life needs to be saved or her physical or mental health protected. The state would then no longer be able to pass or enforce laws prohibiting access to the procedure.

Arizona currently has a ban on abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy. It came into force in 2022 and provides exceptions in medical emergencies and restrictions on medical abortions. In addition, an ultrasound scan is required before an abortion and parental consent is required for minors.

Two months ago, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld an 1864 abortion ban that allowed abortions only to save the patient's life and made no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. But lawmakers voted to repeal the Civil War-era ban, and Gov. Katie Hobbs promptly signed it. The 19th-century law had been blocked in Arizona since 1973, after the U.S. Supreme Court guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion nationwide in Roe v. Wade.

Supporters of the Arizona ballot measure say an amendment to the state constitution is necessary to ensure that abortion rights cannot be simply repealed by a Supreme Court decision or a vote in the legislature.

In Nebraska, organizers of a petition to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution expressed confidence that they had collected enough signatures to put the law on the ballot in November.

Allie Berry, campaign manager for Protect Our Rights, and organizers of a competing petition to enshrine the ban on abortion after the 12th week of pregnancy in the Nebraska state constitution declined to provide information on how many signatures they had collected before Wednesday's deadline.

Both initiatives, as well as a third that would ban abortion at all stages by considering embryos as people, require about 123,000 valid signatures — that's 10% of the state's registered voters — to get on the November ballot.

Efforts to ban abortion altogether in Nebraska began just eight weeks ago and are unlikely to gather the necessary signatures. The proposal for a 12-week ban – which got rolling in March thanks to a $500,000 donation from Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska – has made a furious last-minute attempt to gather signatures but has signaled it may not reach the minimum number needed.

Supporters of a bill in Arkansas that would loosen the state's abortion ban face a deadline Friday to submit petitions to qualify for the November ballot.

The group behind the measure, Arkansans for Limited Government, said on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday that 8,200 signatures were still needed. To qualify, the group must submit at least 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters.

The proposed amendment would prohibit the state from banning abortions within the first 18 weeks of pregnancy. The proposal provides exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities, and to protect the life of the mother. It would also exempt abortions performed to protect the mother from a physical disorder, physical disease, or physical injury.

Arkansas has banned nearly all abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Arkansas' ban currently only allows abortions that protect the life of the mother in a medical emergency.

Associated Press reporters Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.