I just had a spirited conversation with the bill's chief sponsor, State Representative Phil Jensen, and he defended the bill, arguing that it would not legalize the killing of abortion doctors.

"It would if abortion was illegal," he told me. "This code only deals with illegal acts. Abortion is legal in this country. This has nothing to do with abortion."

Jensen was aggressively defending the bill all day yesterday, arguing that its current language only applied to illegal acts and adamantly insisting that it couldn't be applied to the killing of abortion providers. But now, his decision to consider changing the bill amounts to an admission that the proposal may be flawed and perhaps not as clear cut as he insisted.

"There's no way in the world that I or any other representatives wish to see abortion doctors murdered," Jensen told me. "So we're looking at some language that will include that. We're looking at some language that would protect abortion providers."