The Catholic Diocese of Pueblo broadcast an alert to its parishes on Thursday asking for additional signatures to get a 22-week abortion ban on the statewide ballot.

“Please consider: a) inserting a request in your bulletin for parishioners to sign the petition; b) announcing during Mass the opportunity to sign the petition after Mass or at other times you deem appropriate during the next two weeks; c) appointing individuals in your parish to lead the signature securing effort; [or] d) encourag[ing] parishioners to becoming signature collectors seeking signers outside the parish,” read the request from vice chancellor Amanda Zurface.

The e-mail added that the Due Date Too Late campaign backing Initiative 120 warned that the measure is “in jeopardy of not securing enough signatures” by March 4. The measure needs 124,632 to be on the November ballot. If passed, it would outlaw abortions in cases where the “probable gestational age” of the fetus is greater than 22 weeks. There is an exception if the mother’s life is at risk.

Colorado’s Catholic dioceses are heavily involved in the effort to advance the ballot measure. The Denver Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Denver, listed over 20 parishes in northern Colorado that are circulating petitions. It noted an additional 15 sites, including secular offices, where voters could sign.

When reached on Thursday morning, an employee at Life Choices Family Resource Center in Montrose said that signature gathering “seems to be going well.” The center sent the petitions to the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday. The employee estimated there to be 10 pages of signatures total.

A Caring Pregnancy Center in Pueblo – a pregnancy testing center founded to offer alternatives to abortion – has petitions set out during business hours. Executive director Tamra Axworthy said that there was a “small signing event” this past weekend, and she had already returned several completed petitions.

She estimated that she personally procured 200 signatures over the course of one month. Feb. 24 is the deadline by which she was directed to return the remaining petitions.

“We’ve had people on both sides that have signed it. I think people just want a chance to vote,” Axworthy said. She added that the Pueblo Archdiocese has likely been the single entity most involved in providing assistance for petition signings.