July 3 (UPI) – Pro-abortion organizers have collected enough valid signatures to advance referendums in Arizona and Nebraska.

Supporters of the proposed Arizona Abortion Access Act announced that they had collected 823,685 signatures several weeks before the August 22 deadline to submit ballot petitions.

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“We will be submitting the most signatures ever collected by a citizen's initiative here in the state of Arizona,” Dawn Penich, spokeswoman for Arizona for Abortion Access, told local media on Wednesday.

The number of signatures is well above the 383,923 valid signatures required to qualify for the Arizona ballot on November 5.

The additional signatures virtually ensure that the popular initiative has a sufficient number of valid signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

This figure also represents about 20% of Arizona's registered voters and shows that the state's voters have strong support for legalizing abortion.

The Nebraska-based abortion advocacy group Protect Our Rights also announced that it had collected more than enough valid signatures to put its ballot initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot in the state.

Protect Our Rights organizers said they have collected more than 207,000 signatures from registered voters in Nebraska, well over the 123,000 needed to put an amendment on the ballot.

“We were united in our belief that patients and providers should have the freedom to make their own decisions about their health care, not politicians,” Ashlei Spivey, a member of Protect Our Rights' executive committee, told reporters Wednesday.

The total number of signatures represents at least 5% of registered voters in 38 of Nebraska's 93 counties, the number required by state law for inclusion on the general election ballot.

Organizers of Protect Our Rights include the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and Planned Parenthood North Central States.

The proposed measure would amend the Nebraska State Constitution to legalize abortion until the fetus is viable, which is approximately 24 weeks pregnant.

Exceptions would be made if a woman's life and health could be at risk due to her pregnancy.