Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban abortion nationally after 15 weeks, reports Axios. "We will introduce legislation ... to get America in a position at the federal level I think is fairly consistent with the rest of the world," Graham said Tuesday. "If we take back the House and Senate, I can assure you we'll have a vote" on the bill.
Lindsey Graham proposes new national abortion restrictions bill (Axios)
Excerpt from Axios: The legislation includes exceptions for situations involving rape, incest or risks to the life and physical health of the mother. Graham's plan comes less than two months out from the midterm elections, with abortion expected to be an important issue for voters following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Republican candidates across the U.S. have moved to disappear hardline anti-abortion stances they took during their primaries, particularly in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona and North Carolina. "Proposals like the one today send a clear message from MAGA Republicans to women across the country: Your body, our choice," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. Graham's bill is designed to present Republicans as being more mainstream on abortion by pushing a partial ban over either a full ban or what they characterize as Democrats' "abortion on-demand" position.
According to Politico, Lindsey Graham’s anti-abortion legislation once unified the Republican Party. The 15-week abortion ban he pitched Tuesday had the exact opposite effect.
Graham's abortion ban stuns Senate GOP (Politico)
Excerpt from Politico: The South Carolina senator chose a uniquely tense moment to unveil his party’s first bill limiting abortion access since this summer’s watershed reversal of Roe v. Wade. It was designed as a nod to anti-abortion activists who have never felt more emboldened. Yet Graham’s bill also attempted to skate past a Republican Party that’s divided over whether Congress should even be legislating on abortion after the Supreme Court struck down a nationwide right to terminate pregnancies. And some fellow Republicans said they were highly perplexed at Graham’s decision to introduce a new abortion ban — more conservative than his previous proposals — at a precarious moment for the party.
Lindsey Graham provided Democrats with free ammunition this week by introducing a bill that would federally ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, sparking outrage from Democrats, who have pointed to the demise of Roe as a harbinger of what’s to come if the GOP retakes Congress in the midterms, writes Vanity Fair. But right-wing commentators weren't happy either.
“SABOTAGE”: RIGHT-WING MEDIA LASHES OUT AT LINDSEY GRAHAM FOR PROPOSING ABORTION BAN BEFORE MIDTERMS (Vanity Fair)
Excerpt from Vanity Fair: With abortion now on the ballot in November, many suggested that the senator’s bewildering bill might be a deliberate attempt to sabotage the party’s chances. Interviewing Graham in a Wednesday night segment on Fox News, host Jesse Watters demanded that he explain the exceptionally poor timing of the bill to the "very angry" Republicans who view it as detrimental to the GOP. But Graham refused to back down, insisting to Watters that there is "no bad time to defend the unborn," even in the homestretch of a midterm cycle that has seen support for Democrats steadily grow since the reversal of Roe. While agreeing with Graham’s antiabortion talking points, Watters insisted that he could have introduced the bill any other day. "You’ve got to talk tactics, senator. It’s terrible timing, terrible tactics," the host continued. "We could’ve shoved this down their throat on the day the Americans got hammered with this inflation number and the market crashing, and now all the media and the Democrats are talking about is 'federal abortion ban.'"
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