"Arizona Republicans' Strategy to Combat Proposed Abortion Initiatives Revealed"

Republican leaders in Arizona accidentally leaked a strategy to defeat a citizens' ballot initiative enshrining the right to abortion access in the state constitution, which includes referring separate abortion measures to the ballot to potentially split or dilute support for the initiative. The leaked memo outlines a two-phase strategy, with the first phase offering a ballot referral that constitutionally protects existing abortion restrictions, and the second phase proposing 15-week and 6-week abortion bans to be sent to the ballot. Democrats criticized the strategy as an attempt to muddy the water and spread misinformation, while Republicans face political pressure to repeal a near-total abortion ban set to take effect in June.