When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, striking down a constitutionally guaranteed right to abortion and directing decisions on abortion to be made by the states, Republican lawmakers hailed that approach. But no one — neither abortion rights supporters nor abortion opponents — expected GOP members of Congress to stop the assault on reproductive rights, no matter what they said.
And now they have gone further. As if the chaos of a post-Roe nation of restrictions varying from state to state weren’t grim enough, now we have the makings of a nightmare: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Tuesday introduced a nationwide 15-week abortion ban known as the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act. This is a very restrictive abortion ban that is based on the premise that fetuses can feel pain at 15 weeks — a belief soundly rejected by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Graham has done voters a favor, in a sense, by starkly illuminating the stakes in the upcoming midterm elections. This bill will get a vote in Congress if Republicans win back control of the House and Senate, he vowed.
