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April 12 (UPI) -- A Colorado advocacy group says it now has enough signatures to add a measure to the ballot in November that would enshrine access to abortion in the state's constitution. The coalition Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom said Friday it now has more than 225,000 signatures, eclipsing the required number of 124,238 signatures required to be added to the ballot.
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The group still is working to ensure it has the requisite signatures in all of Colorado's 35 state Senate districts, as required by law. It said three districts remain on that front.
Abortion is currently legal in Colorado, but this initiative would prevent state lawmakers from removing the right in the future.
The petition must be filed by April 26. However, the group says it plans to do so earlier than the deadline.
Organizers say the decision made earlier this week by the Supreme Court of Arizona to uphold an 1864 near-total ban on abortion in that state, did not go unnoticed.
"The news of Arizona's near-total abortion ban ultimately exposed just how vulnerable every state is, and will remain, without passing legislation that constitutionally secures the right to abortion," campaign manager Jessica Grennan said in a statement released through the coalition.
If added to the ballot, the initiative would need to receive support from 55% of voters to pass.
Similar measures are taking place in several other states.
"Ballot measures like Proposition 89 are our first line of defense against government overreach and our best tool to protect the freedom to make personal, private healthcare decisions-a right that should never depend on the source of one's health insurance or who is in office, because a right without access is a right in name only," Grennan said in a statement to CBS News, which was the first outlet to report that the group had surpassed the signature threshold.
