One day after proposing a bill that would classify having an abortion after rape or incest as "tampering with evidence," a Republican legislator in New Mexico said Thursday she is clarifying the intent of the legislation.

New Mexico Rep. Cathrynn Brown on Wednesday introduced House Bill 206, which would criminalize "procuring or facilitating an abortion," or "compelling or coercing" someone else to get an abortion after rape or incest, as destroying evidence.

Read the original bill in PDF

Some Democrats and opponents of the proposal said that under the bill's original language, female victims of rape or incest who become pregnant might be criminally liable if they have an abortion.

But in a statement sent Thursday to NBC News, Brown said the bill was not intended to criminalize rape victims, but rather a rapist who might force the victim to have an abortion.

"Its intent is solely to deter rape and cases of incest. The rapist — not the victim — would be charged with tampering of evidence. I am submitting a substitute draft to make the intent of the legislation abundantly clear," Brown said in the statement.

Brown, who represents a southeastern New Mexico district, is endorsed by a "Right to Life" organization, according to her campaign website.

University of New Mexico Law Professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez told NBC News this bill might be designed to have "a chilling effect" on women's right to exercise their choice on abortion.

"It is not typical that a fetus would be used as evidence in a rape case," Sedillo said. Testimony by the victim, bodily damage and semen are generally used as evidence in cases of rape, she added.

Brown's first proposal has abortion rights advocates unhappy.

"Any elected official who wants to put criminal liability (on) survivors of rape or incest is cold-blooded," Donna Crane, policy director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement to NBC News.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico released a statement Thursday condemning the proposed legislation.

"This bill is wrong, and should never see the light of day in any legislature in this country, let alone New Mexico," state party chairman Javier Gonzales said in the statement. "The War on Women in America has to stop. No woman should ever be forced to carry a child for 'evidence,' plain and simple."

A representative from the Right To Life Committee of New Mexico said organization officials could not immediately comment Thursday, as they are still analyzing the bill.

A spokesman for the office of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, sent a statement to NBC News Thursday evening: "Governor Martinez dedicated her career as a prosecutor to being a strong voice for crime victims and would never support any bill that re-victimizes rape survivors," said spokesman Enrique C. Knell.

The issue arose the same week as the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade. The landmark Jan. 22, 1973 decision affirmed a women’s right to choice based on privacy.

Nightly News

Josh Powell and his sons.

SEATTLE -- A computer in Josh Powell's former home in Utah had animated images that depicted "incestuous" sex between parent and child, Pierce County authorities said, and a state official said the material prompted a judge to order Powell to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation just days before he killed his children and himself.

Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the images collected by investigators in Utah two years ago were realistic computer-generated depictions of "incestuous" parent-child relations.

The documents and images were recovered by police in West Valley, Utah, and sent to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department under a restrictive court order on Feb. 1, NBC station KING 5 reported. According to Washington's Department of Social and Health Services Public Affairs Senior Director Thomas Shapley, the material prompted the court to stop a process that likely would have returned Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, to their father's custody.

Shapley said the material found on the computer was so disturbing that it prompted the state psychologist consulting in the custody case to change his opinion and recommend that the court prevent the return of the children.

An attorney for Powell's in-laws wasn't invited to see the materials before a custody hearing last week, the AP said. Lawyer Steve Downing told the AP that he might have asked the court to change the terms of Powell's supervised visitation with the boys -- if he had seen the images.

Meanwhile, the state social worker who brought Powell's two boys to his house said she heard the father tell one son he had a "surprise” for him, according to ABC News.

Elizabeth Griffin-Hall said in an interview to air on ABC's "20/20" on Friday that Powell slammed the door on her after he had the children inside the house on Sunday. Hall said she knocked on the door to try to get inside and heard Powell tell 7-year-old Charlie: "I've got a big surprise for you."

She also heard 5-year-old Braden cry out, but she said she thought the child had hurt his foot.

“The door slammed in my face,” Griffin-Hall said.

“I saw Josh for just one second, his eyes caught mine. He had a look in his eyes. If I were to describe it, it was friendly enough. It was just kind of sheepish. He shrugged his shoulders up."

Authorities said Powell used a hatchet on his children, then set a house fire that killed them all.

Powell's wife, Susan, vanished in Utah two years ago. Josh Powell had been a person of interest in the case but maintained that he had taken his boys — then 2 and 4 — on a midnight camping trip in freezing temperatures when she disappeared from their home.

Anti-gay church to protest at slain Powell boys’ funeral

Griffin-Hall said Charlie and Braden loved being with their father.

She described Powell as a devoted dad, who always had surprises for his boys.  

"One of them said what he wanted to do was go home and live with his daddy," she told ABC, adding that the boys would "light up" during visits with Josh Powell.

'I did everything'
After he got the boys inside and locked the door, Griffin-Hall said she kept banging on the door and asked Josh Powell if she could help him or the boys. She said she realized she didn't have her phone and walked back to her car, which was 10 steps away.

She then called 911 and her supervisor to tell them what was going on. The 911 dispatcher's handling of that call has been criticized, and an investigation has been launched into the emergency response.

The social worker said she told her boss "something terrible is happening here, and I was on the phone with ... when the house exploded."

"I wanted to get to the kids," she said. "I wanted to get to the kids. I would have broken in if I could."

But Griffin-Hall told ABC she doesn't think she could have saved them.

"How this happened is that Josh Powell was really, really evil. I couldn't have stopped him," she said. "I did everything I was supposed to do. I did everything right and the boys are still dead."

This post contains reporting from NBC News, The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff.

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