< GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham introduces 15-week abortion ban in the Senate

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Lawmakers in West Virginia have passed a near-total ban on abortion. The Republican-controlled Legislature voted yesterday to outlaw the procedure with only very narrow exceptions for rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. That drew protests from abortion rights activists inside the state Capitol in Charleston, as captured by WCHS reporter Megan Bsharah.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Vote them out. Vote them out. Vote them out.

MARTINEZ: Vote them out is what they're saying there. The measure passed on the same day that South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill to create a nationwide abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LINDSEY GRAHAM: After 15 weeks, no abortion on demand except in cases of rape, incest, to save the life of the mother. And that should be where America's at.

MARTINEZ: As NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell reports, many other Republicans hope to avoid abortion in this election because it's firing up Democrats' outrage.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE: Democrats started Tuesday answering bad news about inflation, an uncomfortable topic with less than two months to go before the midterms. But by midday, any election talk had shifted, thanks to a new bill from Senator Lindsey Graham that would create a federal ban on abortions at 15 weeks. Graham explicitly tied it to the November election.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GRAHAM: If we take back the House and the Senate, I can assure you we'll have a vote on our bill. If the Democrats are in charge, I don't know if we'll ever have a vote on our bill.

SNELL: Graham's bill is a major departure from the message that most federally elected Republicans want to send at a time when abortion rights are animating voters against them. In the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, polls have consistently shown that a majority of voters oppose the end of federal abortion protections. And Democrats have made it clear that they believe Republicans would pursue such a ban if they win control in Washington. Now they say they have the proof.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PATTY MURRAY: Here we have it, the true Republican position in black and white for everyone to see. They want to ban abortion for everyone in every single state.

SNELL: That's Washington Democrat Patty Murray. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated the message just a few hours later.

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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Republicans in Congress are focused on taking rights away from millions - millions - of women across the country.

SNELL: Graham himself admits that even if Congress voted on the bill, prospects for passing such a ban are slim. He set a goal of making it into law within a decade. But the issue immediately became a pressing topic. In the hours after Graham released the bill, Senate Republicans avoided question about the legislation or, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, avoided any federal responsibility for the issue.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MITCH MCCONNELL: I think most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at the state level.

SNELL: That's the more consistent Republican position. Most GOP senators, including Graham himself, responded to the Supreme Court decision in June by saying abortion should be left to the states. Democrats are now hoping to tie all Republicans to Graham's bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says any Republican who denies it would change their mind, like Graham did.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHUCK SCHUMER: This has never been about letting Texas choose its own path while California takes another - no. For MAGA Republicans, this has always been about making abortion illegal everywhere.

SNELL: But McConnell says the GOP position is not monolithic. He left it up to individual Republicans to define themselves on abortion.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCCONNELL: So I'd leave it up to our candidates, who are quite capable of handling this issue, to determine for them what their response is.

SNELL: As they do that, Democrats are already raising money and rallying voters.

Kelsey Snell, NPR News, Washington.

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