Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) made a rare public break with former President Donald Trump after the latter announced his plan regarding talk of a national abortion ban.
“Whatever [the states] decide must be the law of the land,” President Trump said in the video, in which he also announced his strong support of in-vitro fertilization treatments, and encouraged Republicans to allow exceptions for rape, incest, and serious threats to the life of the mother.
“You must follow your heart on this issue, but you must also win elections,” President Trump said, repeating his oft-stated position that too extreme a position on abortion would alienate voters and cost Republicans electoral wins.
“The pro-life movement has always been about the wellbeing of the unborn child—not geography,” Mr. Graham said in a post on X.
Mr. Graham instead called on President Trump to back a 15-week abortion ban, citing the American consensus against late-term abortions.
“The science is clear—a child at fifteen weeks is well-developed and is capable of feeling pain,” Mr. Graham wrote.
Mr. Graham said that he would continue to back an abortion ban on the grounds that the child is able to feel pain.
However, Mr. Graham also acknowledged that Congress is a long way from any such ban.
In its stead, he announced that he would be introducing legislation to require that babies about to be aborted be administered anesthesia.
A 15-week ban, Mr. Graham said, is “the civilized world’s position,” citing that laws in Europe are similar to the standard he’s proposing.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022, the issue has galvanized Democrats and divided Republicans.
Many observers think that voters’ fears at the overturning of Roe v. Wade contributed to Republicans’ lackluster showing in the 2022 midterm elections, where, despite taking the majority in the House, they won by thinner margins than optimists had hoped.
President Joe Biden has made the abortion issue a pillar of his campaign, claiming that should Republicans emerge victorious in 2024, they'll pursue a national abortion ban.
Realistically, any such ban is highly unlikely to make it through Congress.
Democrats are practically unanimous in their support for abortion, and would oppose any such legislation.
Due to the Senate filibuster, 60 votes would be required for Republicans to institute such a ban—a highly unlikely eventuality due to the closely divided nature of the Senate in recent years.
Trump, pushing back via Truth Social, said the senator was “doing a great disservice” to the GOP and America by taking a hardline stance on abortion.
“Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue, and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency,” he wrote.
In a subsequent post, he added that the legality of abortion “should always have been decided by the States,” and that to continue losing elections over the matter would only harm the country more.
