Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-C.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide, the most high-profile effort by Republicans to restrict the procedure since the Court Supreme annulled. Roe v. Wade in June
“I think we should a law at the federal level that would say, after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother,” Graham said at a press conference. “And here I would of being where America is.”
Graham’s move, which has little chance of moving forward while Democrats hold a majority in Congress, comes just weeks after he and most Republicans argued for a Supreme Court reversal. Roe arguing that allowing states to decide on abortion rights would be the most “constitutionally sound” way to handle the issue.
On Tuesday, Graham promised that if Republicans took back the House and Senate in the midterm elections, there would be a vote on his 15-week abortion bill.
“Abortion is a controversial issue,” Graham said. “Abortion is not banned in the United States. It is left up to elected officials in the United States to define the issue… States have the ability to do that [so] at the state level and we have the capacity in Washington to talk about this issue if we choose I have chosen to speak.”
Graham was joined at the press conference by Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, along with other anti-abortion leaders. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (RN.J.) also introduced a version of the bill in the House on Tuesday. Top GOP lawmakers in the House have indicated the bill would be a priority for them if Republicans regain the majority.
The bill’s name, which includes the non-medical phrase “late-term abortions,” drew harsh criticism from abortion rights activists. Used almost exclusively by anti-abortion activists, the phrase is generally understood to refer to abortions between or after 21 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“15 weeks is not a ‘deadline,’ especially given the significant access challenges across the country,” Christina Reynolds, vice president of communications for Emily’s List, wrote in a tweet.
Although most people undergo abortions before pregnancy, the 15- and 20-week abortion bans disproportionately affect patients with fetal abnormalities, which are often detected at a 20-week anatomy scan weeks, along with those who take longer to realize they are pregnant. These types of bans will also affect more people in a post-Roe America, as abortion clinics struggle to accommodate large numbers of patients from states where abortion is now banned.
The White House criticized the bill, saying it is “far out of step with what Americans believe.”
“President Biden and Democrats in Congress are committed to restoring protections Roe v. Wade in the face of continued radical steps by elected Republicans to put personal health care decisions in the hands of politicians instead of women and their doctors, threatening women’s health and lives,” said the press secretary of the White House Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement.
Other Democrats quickly responded to reports of Graham’s efforts with anger and vowed the measure would go nowhere. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the bill “the latest and clearest sign of MAGA Republicans’ extreme intent to criminalize women’s health freedom in all 50 states and arrest the doctors to provide basic care.”
“Republicans are coming after your rights,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Tuesday. “We’ve already seen the devastation, the health crises, that these extreme abortion bans have caused: patients who can’t get a prescription, doctors who aren’t sure if they can do their jobs, forced to wait until patients get sick. , until their lives are in danger, before they can take action. That’s what we’re seeing in Republican states right now. And it’s a nightmare they now want to impose on every corner of our country.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who is deadlocked in a tough re-election bid, said she would block any effort in the Senate to advance a nationwide abortion ban.
“We don’t need more male politicians telling women what we can and can’t do with our own bodies,” she tweeted.
The timing of Graham’s announcement is curious: two months before the midterm elections, after abortion has already proven to be a galvanizing issue for some Democratic voters. While Republicans have generally praised the overturning of the ruling Roemany have preferred not to focus on the issue before the midterms.
“A narrative is forming in America that the Republican Party and the pro-life movement are on the run. No, no, no, no, no, no,” said Graham, who in the past was in favor of a 20-week ban, he told reporters. “We welcome the debate. We welcome the vote in the United States Senate on what America should look like in 2022.”
Graham said he had not spoken to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) about the bill. Asked after the news conference if his bill had exceptions for late-term pregnancies where fetal abnormalities appear or if a child is stillborn, Graham said he did not know.
Sen. John Thune (SD), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said Tuesday that he wouldn’t rule out votes on something like Graham’s bill, but that he didn’t think anyone had “given much thought to that yet.” .”
“Right now, I think individual states are coming to their own political consensus on this issue,” Thune said.
Last month, Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that would have allowed state lawmakers to regulate abortion, the first time state voters have decided on such an amendment since Roe was overturned Last week, South Carolina Republicans fell short in their bid for a near-total abortion ban in the state. Planned Parenthood announced last month that it plans to spend a record $50 million in an effort to elect abortion-rights supporters nationwide this November, based on the belief that abortion will help convert -se in Democratic voters.
Kansans voted to protect abortion rights during the August 2 primary. These results could be a sign of things to come for more states in mid-2022. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
Also, several red states already have stricter bans. Abortion is prohibited or mostly prohibited in 15 states, while laws in several others are in various legal limbo. Last month, Indiana passed a near-total abortion ban, the first to do so since Roe was overthrown.
Before the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in June, many Republican lawmakers and advocates had been pushing for a strict national ban on “heartbeat” abortions, which would have banned the procedure after heart activity was detected around six weeks into pregnancy. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) had been planning behind the scenes to introduce the legislation.
But months after the landmark abortion ruling, those plans have quietly failed. While that bill has been drafted, there is no deadline for Ernst or any other senator to introduce it, according to several anti-abortion advocates close to the situation.
Instead, some leading abortion advocates hope Republicans will rally around a 15-week ban, long decried by many in the anti-abortion movement because it would allow the vast majority of abortions to go ahead .
Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said she hopes Graham’s bill will be “universally accepted,” offering a path forward that several Republican senators can support.
“I think the place to start is where Graham starts,” Dannenfelser said in an interview before Graham’s bill was released. “Graham is the impetus and he will step up when he comes forward [his bill]”.
Some Republicans aren’t so sure. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, many have said publicly that they believe abortion should be left up to the states.
Even before an anti-abortion amendment was soundly defeated in his home state, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told the Washington Post that he doubted there was a future for any kind of national abortion ban.
“I just don’t see the push at the federal level,” Marshall said in a July 25 interview. “I think the legislative priority should be in the states.”
A nationwide ban would be extremely difficult to pass, as it would take 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. The measure would meet resistance from nearly all Democrats, as well as a handful of Republicans who support abortion rights. Neither party is likely to win the number of seats needed for a filibuster-proof majority in the midterm elections.
Republicans have been forced to reckon with a growing body of data that suggests abortion could be a deciding issue in the midterms, motivating Democratic and independent voters far more than expected. Candidates who support abortion rights have surged in recent special elections, while key battleground states have seen an increase in Democratic and independent women registering to vote.
Some Republicans have become increasingly hesitant to bring up the issue of a national abortion ban on the campaign trail. In Arizona, Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters removed from his website any mention of his support for a “federal personhood law,” legislation that would likely have banned abortion nationwide after conception. Masters’ website now says he would support a ban on abortions in the third trimester, around 27 weeks of pregnancy, a much more popular position.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America applauded the change in a news release, saying Masters “rightly focused his position on what can be achieved at the federal level.”
Abortion rights groups have seized on the looming threat of a national abortion ban, hoping to mobilize voters around the issue…