Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at the Capitol on April 7, 2022.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced a bill that would impose new nationwide restrictions on abortion.
The bill, unlikely to pass the Senate anytime soon, comes amid backlash to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In the wake of that decision, a slew of Republican-led states have enacted new abortion restrictions.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced a bill on Tuesday that would impose a 15-week abortion ban nationwide, despite the widespread backlash to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The bill, called the “Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act,” would limit how late in pregnancy a person can seek an abortion. Graham has introduced versions of the bill five times before, and in 2021, the limit was set at 20 weeks.
“Abortion is not banned in America. It’s left up to elected officials to define the issue,” Graham said at a press conference on Capitol Hill where he unveiled the legislation. “And we have the ability in Washington to speak on this issue if we choose. I have chosen to speak.”
Graham called his bill “eminently reasonable” and claimed a “strong majority” of Americans believe “abortion should be the exception not the rule” and would support his legislation.
A majority of Americans — about 60%, according to recent Pew polling — say abortion should be legal in some or all cases. A Wall Street Journal poll in April of this year — before the Supreme Court decision — found that 48% of Americans supported a 15-week abortion ban, including exceptions to protect the mother’s health, while 43% opposed it.
Graham, who has praised the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, attended the press conference alongside 10 female proponents of abortion bans, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
The introduction of the bill comes amid evidence that the Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling to toss out abortion rights has sparked criticism against Republicans, who are almost uniformly in favor of restricting the procedure.
In August, voters in the traditionally Republican state of Kansas rejected a constitutional amendment that would have removed the right to an abortion from the state constitution. And Democrats, campaigning on abortion rights, have also outperformed expectations in recent special elections. Abortion has quickly become a top issue for voters heading into this year’s midterms, according to recent polls. As a result, some Republican candidates have tried to water down their stances on abortion.
It also comes despite Graham’s insistence in May, when a leaked draft opinion showed the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe, that abortion should be largely legislated on a state-by-state basis.
When asked by Insider about Graham’s previous comments, the Republican senator claimed his legislation comes in response to Democratic-led bills to protect abortion access nationwide.
—Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2022
That same month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threw cold water on the idea of new nationwide abortion restrictions. It’s unlikely that Graham’s legislation will get the necessary votes to pass the Senate, which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.
“I think it’s safe to say there aren’t 60 votes there at the federal level, no matter who happens to be in the majority, no matter who happens to be in the White House,” McConnell said at the time. “So I think the widespread sentiment of my caucus is that this issue will be dealt with at the state level.”
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a slew of Republican-led states have enacted restrictions on abortion, whereas Democratic-led states have taken steps to protect and expand abortion access. In Graham’s home state of South Carolina, Republican state legislators recently failed to receive enough support to pass a total ban on abortion, instead opting to update another law that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The state Supreme Court has currently blocked that law from being enforced as litigation remains ongoing.
Democrats quickly seized on Graham’s bill, as the party seeks to highlight other nationally unpopular proposals put forward by Republican senators. Most recently, the White House has zeroed in on Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida’s GOP agenda, which calls for increasing taxes on half of Americans via a mandatory income tax for all.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted to the bill in a statement on Tuesday, calling it “the latest, clearest signal of extreme MAGA Republicans’ intent to criminalize women’s health freedom.”
“With Roe now out of their way, extreme MAGA Republicans are gleefully charging ahead with their deadly crusade to punish and control women’s health decisions,” the top Democrat said.