Madison Kwiecinski, Editor-in-Chief
mvk5945@psu.edu
In June of this year the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade that had protected the right to chose whether or not to have an abortion during the first several weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections to, in theory, return the power on this issue to the states.
However, regardless of the intent in overturning Roe v. Wade, it has opened up the opportunity for Senators to draft new laws that would no longer conflict with the court ruling. Senator Lindsey Graham R-SC has introduced several pieces of legislation attempting to ban abortion on a nationwide scale for a determined period of weeks, with his most recent piece of introduced legislation aiming to implement a 15 week federal abortion ban.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Graham tweeted, “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is a long overdue constitutional correction allowing for elected officials in the states to decide this issue.”
Graham recently acknowledged at a Press Conference that he is aware this legislation has very little chance of passing, especially since it has not received any public backing from any of the GOP leaders. Mitch McConnel, the current Senate Minority Leader, has avoided nearly all comment on any discussion of a federal abortion ban since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The issue of abortion has always been a divisive one between Americas two major political parties, and now is no exception to that. Pro-life and pro-choice rallies have been taking place all across the country since the S.C. decision was announced, and even before then. Now, with the November elections quickly approaching, not only are both parties prioritizing this as a platform issue, but voters are looking closely to see their Representatives position on the issue.
Many GOP members have distanced themselves from Grahams proposed abortion ban, hoping to put space between them and the issue. However, Graham has made statements to the effect of saying his bill represents the most common view of those who oppose abortion rights.
The legislation Graham proposed mirrors the many other similar bills he has tried to propose in the past. The legislation bans all abortions after 15 weeks, or essentially after the first trimester, and includes exceptions rape, incest, and the health of the mother, though it requires a police report to be on file for the first two reasons.
“We are trying to basically normalize America here,” Graham said. “If we stay on this and keep talking about it maybe in a decade this will be law.”
Not all GOP members are in agreement with Graham about how this issue should be handled, but it appears Graham is willing to play the long game on this particular issue.
“It takes 60 votes in the Senate for either side to prevail on this issue,” said McConnel at an event in his state of Kentucky. “I think the democratic process on this issue is going to work out at the state level.”