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Congress Should Work to End Infanticide in America By National Review Editors A 15-week limit stands in stark contrast to congressional Democrats' radical federal legislation that would effectively allow abortion in all 50 states through all nine months of pregnancy. But some congressional Republicans are now balking at Graham's bill. Why? They suggest they believe abortion might be an issue exclusively for state legislatures, but their recent votes suggest they don't really believe that. ... For nearly a decade, Graham has been the lead sponsor of a similar late-term abortion ban (one that established a limit at 20 weeks after conception) that has had almost unanimous support from congressional Republicans. When the Senate voted to advance the 20-week bill in 2015, 51 Republicans and three Democrats supported it. ... We are persuaded that the undoubted federal power to defend basic civil rights under the 14th Amendment extends to this issue, as Republicans have held in their platform for decades. When Did the GOP Become Pro-Choice? By Jon Schweppe The 15-week bill checks all the boxes: it is morally righteous, constitutionally mandated, politically winning, Supreme Court-approved, and strategically savvy. The Republican Party has pledged to support a bill like this for the better part of four decades. Nearly every sitting Republican member of Congress has already co-sponsored this kind of bill in prior terms. In 2020, 53 Senators voted in favor of a 20-week ban with these same exceptions. Nobody said anything then. ... Abortion is going to be a major issue in this election cycle. Dobbs happened, and there is no avoiding it. This is now a prisoner's dilemma. Republicans have two choices: they can ignore the issue and lose badly (which most of the establishment seems committed to doing), or they can counter the left's attacks and run against the left's own abortion extremism. If done even half-heartedly, this is a draw. If done emphatically, the polling suggests it turns into a win. ... So, the GOP has to talk about abortion. That's the only play. The Democrats have already committed to spending tens of millions of dollars running on this issue in November. That's why Graham's bill is so important; it insulates Republicans and gives them the opportunity to support an easily defensible policy position. Abortion restrictions after 15 weeks, especially with the exceptions, are extraordinarily popular. Meanwhile, nearly every single Democrat is on the record supporting a 40-week bill, a position that is completely untenable with the American people. If voters are choosing between 15 weeks with exceptions and 40 weeks without limits, we will win this debate easily. Lindsey Graham's Bill is a Good Start By Erick-Woods Erickson I understand the argument of leaving this to the states, but Democrats have already said if they get back the Senate with a few more seats, they will scrap the filibuster to impose abortion on demand. The GOP needs a response. ... Graham's position is moral, responsible, and reasonable. It gives Republican candidates a piece of legislation to point to that they support and shows how unreasonable Democrats actually are. It forces Americans to decide if they're comfortable killing a child who can feel the pain of the procedure. ... You and I can say this should be a state issue. Democrats intend to pre-empt every state's laws. They will make it a national issue. We might as well accept the reality of the situation instead of the wishful thinking of the world we want, which is not the world in which we live. In Defense of Lindsey Graham By Rich Lowry The South Carolina senator proposed a national restriction on abortion that has popular support and that could represent a defensible consensus GOP position. ... If the worry is that Democrats will use the Graham bill to hit Republicans on abortion – they are already hitting Republicans on abortion. As a POLITICO report noted, there's not much space for the bill to show up in Democratic ads given that the spots are already overwhelmingly about abortion. In other words, Republicans can't escape this debate. To the extent they try, Democrats will define them as favoring the most radical measures. And the Graham bill shouldn't qualify. Since it is a prohibition on abortions after 15 weeks, it would only ban an estimated 5 percent of abortions. It has exceptions for the life of the mother and rape and incest. ... If Republicans truly believe that they can't defend a 15-week ban, maybe they are right to find any excuse to try not to talk about the issue of abortion. But that path leads, ultimately, to implicit surrender. You can't blame Lindsey Graham for wanting his party to do better.
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