By Stacy M. Brown, Senior National Correspondent, NNPA Newswire
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has introduced a bill that bans abortions in the United States after 15 weeks.
The legislation comes three months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris vow to restore the abolished law’s protections.
“I think we should have a law at the federal level that would say, after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother,” Graham said on Tuesday, Sept. 13.
“And that should be where America is at.”
Graham reiterated the GOP’s argument that states should decide abortion rights.
He said if his party wins the House and Senate during the November midterms, they’d immediately vote on his proposal.
“Abortion is not banned in America. It is left up to elected officials in America to define the issue,” Graham insisted.
“States have the ability to do [so] at the state level and we have the ability in Washington to speak on this issue if we choose. I have chosen to speak.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blasted the GOP for introducing the measure which she said would strip away women’s rights in all 50 states.
“This bill is wildly out of step with what Americans believe,” Jean-Pierre asserted.
“While President Biden and Vice President Harris are focused on the historic passage of the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, health care, and energy – and to take unprecedented action on climate change – Republicans in Congress are focused on taking rights away from millions of women,” Jean-Pierre continued.
She said Biden and Harris “are fighting for progress, while Republicans are fighting to take us back.”
“President Biden and Congressional Democrats are committed to restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade in the face of continued radical steps by elected Republicans to put personal health care decisions in the hands of politicians instead of women and their doctors, threatening women’s health and lives,” Jean-Pierre concluded.
