Chris Lange, FISM News
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South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday introduced legislation to set a nationwide ban on abortions after 15 weeks, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the matter should be dealt with at the state level.
“Working closely with the preeminent pro-life groups in the country, we are today introducing legislation to ban abortion at a time when unborn children can feel pain,” Graham said in a press release. “Our legislation, which bans abortion after 15 weeks gestation, will put the United States abortion policy in line with other developed nations such as France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and other European nations.”
The measure would bar doctors from performing abortions after 15 weeks, “when an unborn child can feel pain,” except in cases where the mother’s life and/or health are at risk or in pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. It would further punish doctors who violate the directive with up to five years in prison.
“After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Democrats in Congress have rallied behind pro-choice legislation which allows abortion right up until the moment of birth. I view the Democrat proposal as radical and one that Americans will ultimately reject,” Graham continued, calling his proposed legislation as “a responsible alternative.”
McConnell, (R-Ky.) however, pushed back, saying Graham’s initiative does not reflect the opinions of most Republican lawmakers, who want to leave abortion decisions up to individual states.
“With regard to his bill, you’ll have to ask him about it,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “In terms of scheduling, I think most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at the state level,” he added.
McConnell said that it is up to individual Republican candidates to explain their opinions on abortion.
“I think every Republican senator running this year in these contested races has an answer as to how they feel about the issue, and it may be different in different states, so I leave it up to our candidates, who are quite capable of handling this issue, to determine for them what their response is,” he said.
McConnell concluded by stressing that the primary focus of his leadership team right now is inflation, which increased 8.3% over the past year, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Tuesday.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted the proposed legislation in a statement in which she echoed Biden’s recent rhetoric, calling Republicans “radical” and “extreme” for their efforts to protect the unborn.
“The nationwide abortion ban proposal put forth today is the latest, clearest signal of extreme MAGA Republicans’ intent to criminalize women’s health freedom in all 50 states and arrest doctors for providing basic care,” Pelosi wrote. “We are already seeing the agonizing reality of the radical bans enacted by radical right-wing state legislatures – and extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress clearly want to inflict this same suffering on every woman in every state. Instead of fighting actual crime, Republicans would drag doctors off to prison, while forcing ER physicians to focus on the threat of prosecution instead of the emergency medical care owed their patients. ”
Many prominent pro-life groups, including National Right to Life and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America came out in support of Graham’s bill.
“The Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act would prevent cruel and painful abortions from being performed on innocent children,” National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said in a statement.
“In contrast, pro-abortion Democrats are pushing for unlimited abortion for any reason throughout pregnancy and using tax dollars to pay for abortion. In fact, the only thing the Democrats are offering the American people in this campaign is an opportunity to kill more and more children by abortion,” she continued.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America responded to Graham’s announcement with a tweet highlighting results from a June Harvard/Harris poll which showed that a majority of Americans favor abortion restrictions at 15 weeks.
Limiting abortion at 15 weeks:
72% of voters: SUPPORT
75% of women: SUPPORT
70% of Independents: SUPPORT
60% of Democrats: SUPPORT
Nancy Pelosi: That's "extreme"No, Nancy. YOU are extreme, and out of touch.
Source: Harvard/Harris poll, June 2022: https://t.co/4yIF0YCEyQ
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) September 13, 2022
The same poll showed that the subject of abortion rights had risen by 6 points among the list of topics voters are concerned about heading into the midterms, but data also revealed that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn federal abortion rights had “a net neutral impact on midterm voting.”
Specifically, 36% of Americans said the decision made them “more likely to vote for a Democrat” while the same percentage said they were “more likely to vote for a Republican” candidate. Meanwhile, 29% said the decision will have “no effect” on how they will vote in November.