Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina has declared with confidence that he believes the public will support his 15-week federal abortion ban proposal. But he also expressed that it does not have the votes to be passed in the Senate.
Graham was speaking on Fox News Sunday with the anchor, Shannon Beam. He said that he was pro-life, even in an election year.
“I am confident the American people would accept a national ban on abortion at 15 weeks,” Graham said. “And to those who suggest that being pro-life is losing politics, I reject that.”
It was on Tuesday that Graham introduced the bill that would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. In the bill, there are exceptions for rape, incest, and when the mother’s life is in danger.
There is plenty of criticism for this bill from the Left, but there is also a fair amount of criticism for the timing of the bill on the Right. Some GOP leaders have said that we should leave abortion legislation to the states after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in June.
Fox News host Shannon Bream asked the senator about comments that he made two days after the court’s decision. Graham said that Americans should “let every state do it the way they would like” on abortion restrictions.
“Here’s what Dobbs says: elected officials can make the decision, state or federal. I’m not inconsistent,” Graham said to Beam about his previous comments in June.
Senator Graham Proposing 15 Week Abortion Ban
Graham responded to the idea that he has flipped on his position saying it is “ridiculous.” He talked about the fact that he introduced a 20-week abortion ban several times in the Senate and has brought to the table other related bills.
He did acknowledge that he will not be able to get them all passed when it comes to legislation around abortion. He did say that he will not sit on the sidelines and watch America become China when it comes to aborting babies up to the moment of birth. He flatly rejected that idea and promised to continue to introduce legislation at a national level that sets the minimum standard at 15 weeks.
There still is general agreement from the GOP lawmakers that there should be a tightening of abortion restrictions at the state level, but sporadic opposition to a federal mandate.
A lot of the concern politically is due to the midterm elections coming in November. Democrats are hopeful that the abortion debate will energize liberal voters in races this fall, especially in places where the margin is super thin.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) expressed to reporters this past week that his caucus is not looking forward to debating the Graham legislation. He said that he thinks most members of his conference would prefer to let this be settled at the state level.
When the Minority Leader was asked if Graham’s bill was sanctioned by the leadership, John Thune, the Senate Republican Whip from South Dakota, simply said “No.”
Graham expressed his thoughts about why this legislation is so important: “This is a child in being, developing, becoming a human being. At 20 weeks, you encourage the mother and father to sing to the unborn baby because they can associate your voice with who you are.
At 15 weeks, the baby can feel pain. You provide anesthesia to save the baby’s life when you operate.”
He told his own part to not be afraid and to stand up for the baby all over the country. He promised his fellow pro-life politicians that if they stand with the unborn, pro-life voters will stand with them.
