Republicans at the Arizona Legislature may refer multiple proposals to the ballot in an effort to undermine a citizen-led effort to put the right to abortion in the Arizona Constitution, according to documents leaked from the state Capitol.

The plans are part of a GOP effort to, in their words, change the narrative after the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a Civil War era near-total abortion ban in the state.

Since that ruling, Republicans have faced criticism for choosing not to repeal the 1864 abortion ban when they passed a 15-week ban in 2022. Republicans then blocked Democratic attempts to repeal the law last week.

A leaked PowerPoint presentation, prepared by an attorney for Republicans in the Arizona House, revealed details of a two-part plan to put “Democrats in a defensive position” on abortion.

For part one, Republican lawmakers would send a measure to voters that would tack additional constraints onto the separate citizen initiative, known as Arizona for Abortion Access. The proposed referral would give the Legislature the power to add additional laws “rationally related to promoting or preserving life and to protecting the health and safety of pregnant women.”

The other constraints include: 

• Allowing only physicians licensed in Arizona to perform abortions
• Requiring doctors to receive patient consent
• Requiring a court order or parental consent to perform an abortion on a minor
• Banning “partial birth” abortions
• Banning the sale of “an aborted fetus or its parts.”
• Prohibits abortions motivated by racial or sex-based discrimination

Part two involves sending two more conflicting abortion measures to the ballot to compete with the Arizona for Abortion Access initiative.

One option would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and include exceptions for the life or health of the mother, fatal fetal abnormalities or if the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest or human trafficking. The other referral would ban abortion after 14 weeks. However, the Republican presentation indicates it would be marketed to voters as a 15-week ban.

“In reality, it’s a 14-week law disguised as a 15-week law because it would only allow abortion until the beginning of the 15th week,” according to the document.

Together, the package of proposals “changes narrative — Republicans have a plan! And it’s much more reasonable than the AAA Initiative,” according to the leaked PowerPoint.

Arizona for Abortion Access, the group backing the initiative Republicans are trying to defeat, criticized the leaked proposal.

“This is yet another example of the legislature trying to create chaos instead of ensuring and furthering the rights of Arizona voters and families,” Dawn Penich-Thacker, a spokesperson for the group, said.

According to the document, the 14-week option is designed to siphon votes away from the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign.  

“More likely that the AAA Initiative will fail if vote is split (dilutes vote),” according to the document.

But Penich-Thacker said she is not concerned that the competing proposals, specifically a 14- or 15-week ban, would draw support away from the Arizona for Abortion Access initiative, pointing to the fact that Arizona already has a 15-week abortion ban on the books.

“Yet we have managed to collect well over half a million signatures with months left to go, so we know that Arizona voters want more protections than what the legislature has currently been willing to offer them,” she said.

But she did accuse Republicans of deliberately trying to confuse voters.

“So they have put forward a plan whose goal is to confuse voters with competing measures that cannot all be in existence at the same time, while building in for themselves a way to continue changing the laws, regardless of what voters choose to do on their ballot,” Penich-Thacker said. 

House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) confirmed the authenticity of the document in a statement to KJZZ News but did not say whether he plans to bring these plans up for a vote this week.

“The document presents ideas drafted for internal discussion and consideration within the caucus,” Toma said. “I've publicly stated that we are looking at options to address this subject, and this is simply part of that.”

But Rep. Nancy Gutierrez (D-Tucson) said Republicans should focus on repealing the 1864 law.

“Republicans are playing politics with peoples’ lives and are desperate to muddy the water, confuse the issue, spread misinformation and change the narrative,” Gutierrez said. “In reality implementing this archaic ban was the result they argued for in court. We hope that enough members of their caucus will vote to save lives and pass a straight repeal.”

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