Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a bill Tuesday that would prohibit elective abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with few exceptions.
“I think we should have a law at the federal level that would say after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand — except in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother,” Graham said at the press conference. “That’s where we should be as Americans.”
Graham said he believes a 15-week ban will put America more in line with abortion laws in the rest of the world. Several European countries ban abortion after 14 weeks, including France and Germany. Other European countries have bans after 24 weeks, including the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The senior senator from South Carolina said his bill’s purpose is not to be like Europe, but rather to find a uniform standard that most Americans will agree on.
Graham said he draws the line at 15 weeks of pregnancy because that’s when an unborn child’s nerve endings are developed enough to feel pain. He asked, “if a baby can feel excruciating pain should we be aborting it?”
He said his bill, titled Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-term Abortions Act, is a response to Democrats’ failed attempt to legalize abortions nationwide earlier this summer after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“I think the Democrats made a huge mistake in introducing legislation in Washington that would basically allow abortion up to the moment of birth,” Graham told CNN. “Now we have an alternative to that.”
Graham acknowledges his bill has a slim chance of passing in a Democratic controlled Senate and House.
And the senator’s Republican colleagues seem divided on the 15 week federal ban proposition.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told The Wall Street Journal he supports Graham’s proposal and hopes it counters Democrats’ claims that Republicans favor a national ban on all abortions.
“Democrats have tried to convert this into a one-sided argument that represents their singular view of the world, which is that all Republicans are for an outright ban,” Thune said. The legislation is “an attempt to give Republican candidates, people running for office this year, something to be for that represents a reasonable middle ground.”
However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., doubts other Republicans want to spend political capital addressing abortion.
“Most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at the state level,” McConnell told a gaggle of reporters Tuesday according to NBC.
Several Democratic candidates on the ballot this November attempted to use Graham’s announcement to engage their opponent on the issue of abortion, which many Democrats feel could be a winning issue for them this year. Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who’s running for Senate against Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, tweeted at his opponent demanding to know if he supports Graham’s legislation.
“Republicans’ national abortion ban will be on the ballot, in every Senate race,” Sen. Gary Peters told CNN.
Peters is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which sent out a fundraising email shortly after Graham’s press conference saying that “Republicans are making good on their threat to try and pass a nationwide abortion ban.”
Some Republican strategists are worried Graham’s legislation will distract midterm voters from the GOP’s preferred focus on news of high inflation and other economic woes experienced under President Joe Biden. The U.S. Labor Department reported this morning that August’s inflation numbers remain high and only dropped two-tenths of a percent to 8.3%.
“Democrats couldn’t have asked for better timing,” a GOP strategist told The Wall Street Journal. “They started the day hiding from terrible inflation news but they’ll end it leaning forward on their favorite topic.”