From “states’ rights” to total ban, why Republicans must be defeated in November
JAKE JOHNSON
for Common Dreams
Graham
(R-S.C.) has introduced national
abortion ban legislation five times as a senator, but the new bill is his most
restrictive yet as Republicans look to capitalize on the U.S. Supreme Court's
unpopular June decision overturning Roe v. Wade, a ruling that
imperiled the right to reproductive care across large swaths of the country.
The
South Carolina Republican's earlier measures "sought to ban abortions
nationally from 20 weeks," Axios reported late
Monday.
Graham's
most recent 20-week abortion ban proposal garnered the support of 43 Republican
senators. It's not clear how many GOP lawmakers intend to back the
proposed 15-week ban, which
includes narrow
exceptions.
"Republicans keep showing us who they are and what the future will be if they take the majority this fall," tweeted the progressive advocacy group Indivisible. "Don't count on polls to save us—nothing is certain until we vote."
The
Republican senator introduced the updated bill at a press conference Tuesday
alongside anti-abortion leaders including Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president
of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
"Let's
be clear about what a bill like this would do—it could put a ban on abortion in
place in every state in our country, including blue states that have laws
protecting abortion rights and access on the books," Mini Timmaraju, the
president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. "This is about who gets to decide
what's right for our lives and our families. Should it be a person who is
pregnant? Or Lindsey Graham and MAGA Republicans?"
The
GOP push for a nationwide abortion ban throws into sharp relief the stakes of
the fast-approaching midterm contests, races in which Democrats could expand
their Senate majority by electing abortion rights champions such as John Fetterman
of Pennsylvania—or relinquish control to Republicans bent on
eliminating reproductive freedoms.
"Senate
Republicans are showing us exactly what they plan to do if they get
power," responded Alexis
McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood. "It's dangerous—and
the stakes have never been higher. This election is critical. It's going to
take all of us."
Graham
is expected to characterize his bill as a late-term abortion ban, but The
Washington Post's Caroline Kitchener stressed that
"'late-term abortion' is not a medical term, but a political one deployed
almost exclusively by the anti-abortion camp."
"To
the extent that it's used," Kitchener added, "it's generally
understood to refer to abortions after 24 weeks or so."
Rights
groups have warned a nationwide abortion ban would have disastrous health
impacts. One recent analysis by
experts at the University of Colorado Boulder estimated that prohibiting
abortion outright at the federal level would increase the United States' already-high maternal
mortality rate by 24%.
"Republicans
are now coming after the right to abortion at the federal level," Rep.
Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote on
social media Tuesday. "Overturning Roe was never about
giving power back to states—it was about controlling our bodies and our
personal autonomy. We cannot let this happen."
