COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Authors of an abortion-rights amendment submitted signatures Wednesday to place the measure on the November ballot.

Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights delivered 422 boxes of petition booklets to the Secretary of State’s office with the names of more than 710,000 voters, the coalition said, who support their ballot initiative to enshrine the right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability into the state’s constitution. The minimum number of signatures required is a total of 413,446 from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.

“Those 422 boxes are filled with hope and love and dreams of freedom, of bodily autonomy, of health, of being able to say, ‘We decide what happens to us – not some politician, not some judge, not someone who doesn’t know me, who doesn’t know my kid, who doesn’t know my best friend – but me,'” Kellie Copeland, executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio, said Wednesday. “We trust Ohioans to make their own reproductive decisions.”

Secretary of State Frank LaRose must immediately separate the signatures by their respective county and deliver them to the local boards of elections for verification. Once reviewed, LaRose has until July 25 to ratify the signatures.

The constitutional amendment, titled “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” was authored in conjunction with several abortion rights groups, including Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and the ACLU of Ohio.

The initiative mimics a recently ratified constitutional amendment in Michigan and provides for the following:

• Every Ohioan has a right to make their own reproductive decisions, including contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage and abortion
• The State cannot burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with or discriminate against an Ohioan’s decision to exercise their reproductive rights
• Abortion can be prohibited after fetal viability, but it cannot be prohibited if a physician deems the procedure necessary to protect the patient’s life or health
• Fetal viability is defined as the point in a pregnancy when a physician deems the fetus has a “significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures” and is determined on a case-by-case basis

Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said he wasn’t impressed by the amendment backers’ signature-gathering efforts. The 710,000 signatures equates to less than 10% of Ohio’s 8 million registered voters,” he said.

“It was underwhelming at best after spending millions of dollars,” Gonidakis said. “We’re not sure they’re even going to make ballot, and if they do, we are fully funded and ready to explain to Ohioans why this is a bad idea.”

Protect Women Ohio, an anti-abortion coalition campaigning against the reproductive rights amendment, said in a statement that the extreme measure would also eliminate parents’ ability to know when their child is seeking an abortion or gender-affirming care.

“The ACLU paid out-of-state signature collectors to lie to Ohioans about their dangerous amendment that will strip parents of their rights, permit minors to undergo sex change operations without their parents’ knowledge or consent, and allow painful abortion on demand through all nine months,” said Protect Women Ohio spokesperson Amy Natoce. “The ACLU’s attempts to hijack Ohio’s constitution to further its own radical agenda would be pathetic if it wasn’t so dangerous.”

Dr. Lauren Beene, a pediatrician and executive director of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, called Protect Women Ohio’s claims “overt lies” during Wednesday’s press conference. The measure, she said, will not impede current laws regarding parental consent for minors’ health care.

In August, Ohioans will vote on Issue 1 to determine whether it should be harder to amend the state constitution — an issue that, if passed, could impact the fate of the abortion-rights coalition’s efforts. The Republican-led legislature fast-tracked the measure, which would require 60% of voter support — as opposed to the existing simple majority of 50% plus one vote — to enact a change to the constitution.

Copeland said she is confident that Ohioans will defeat Issue 1 in August and enshrine the right to abortion into the state’s constitution in November.

“A year ago today, we were fleeing the state,” she said, referencing Ohio’s now-blocked six-week abortion ban. “Today, we are qualifying for the ballot. We can do anything.”

A late June survey conducted by Scripps News/YouGov found a slight majority of Ohioans, or 58%, support the abortion-rights amendment eyed for the November ballot. Voters were nearly split-even, however, on Issue 1.

On Wednesday afternoon, supporters of a separate initiative – one that would legalize adult-use marijuana in Ohio – delivered 222,198 signatures to place the cannabis question on the November ballot, too, according to Tom Haren, spokesperson for the Coalition to Regulation Marijuana Like Alcohol. It needed at least 124,046 signatures.

If the signatures are verified by LaRose, Ohioans will determine in November whether to legalize the possession, purchase and sale of marijuana for residents ages 21 and older. It also creates a home-grow program, allowing each adult to have up to six plants.

The initiative, if passed by voters, would levy a 10% tax on the sale of all cannabis products, generating an estimated $400 million in revenue for the state. Haren said more than a quarter of that revenue will be allocated toward social equity and jobs programs.

“We’re ready to end the prohibition and let Ohioans responsibly use marijuana just like people in half of the country already do,” Haren said in a statement. “It’s just common sense.”

Ohioans have less than a week left to register to vote for the state’s Aug. 8 special election.