JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Organizers of a campaign to overturn Missouri’s near-total abortion ban on Friday submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures from people across the state, a major step to getting abortion rights on the ballot.

The coalition of abortion rights groups, called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, said it dropped off more than 380,000 signatures at the Secretary of State’s Office — well above the roughly 171,000 required. If election officials verify the group has enough, it would be placed on the ballot, likely in November.

Friday marked a day of celebration for Missouri abortion rights supporters, who have for the past handful of months campaigned in every county across the state. The coalition has raised nearly $5 million since launching the campaign.

“Today is a monumental day for Missouri and for my patients,” said Iman Alsaden, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains who is advising the campaign.

The proposed constitutional amendment would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution but also give lawmakers some leeway to regulate the procedure after fetal viability.

It defines fetal viability as the point in a pregnancy when a health care professional decides, based on the facts of the situation, “there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside of the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”

The campaign comes after Missouri became the first state in the nation to enact a ban on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. The ban has faced intense criticism and fear among women and medical providers.

It does not include exceptions for rape and incest.

While Missouri has grown staunchly Republican over the past decade, abortion rights remain popular among voters. Polling released in March by Saint Louis University and British pollster YouGov found that a plurality of 44% of those surveyed supported the amendment while 37% disagreed.

The remaining 19% said they were not sure, a percentage of voters that abortion rights supporters will have to tap into.

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