shades fills you in

On September 13, 2022 -- just before the November midterms -- Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill to ban abortion past 15 weeks. He said his inspiration was European abortion laws

Daily Wire host Matt Walsh called the bill “sabotage” on the GOP for the midterms. Graham wasn’t a big pro-life advocate before Dobbs. Did he just want the GOP to lose here?

NBC basically agreed, the bill made no sense. It would ban very few abortions -- most abortions happen before 15 weeks anyway. And, yep, a dangerous game before the midterms

A WaPo Op also agreed it was a gift to Dems. GOP candidates running in tight races were trying to avoid abortion entirely. Graham’s bill put the issue front and center. Why??

Fox News’ Jesse Watters was the same. Why not wait until after the midterms?

The WSJ Ed Board likewise said this was a bad political gamble. It let the Dems off the hook for inflation and is probably unconstitutional anyway

An NY Post Op also thought Graham’s bill is unconstitutional. Congress can’t legislate abortion! That was partly why Roe was wrong too. This is a state issue

And some pro-life GOP candidates quickly came out against the bill -- like Nevada’s Adam Laxalt

But National Review said Congress has a constitutional duty to protect the civil rights of all Americans, including the unborn

Mike Pence also supported the bill, midterms be damned. A national abortion ban “is profoundly more important than any short-term politics”

And a Politico Op said Graham was actually being smart. Banning abortions past 15 weeks is actually pretty popular

But an NYT Op called Graham’s bill cruel. The exceptions were very narrow -- they wouldn’t even let women terminate non-viable fetuses. And most fetal defects aren’t known until after 15 weeks

And Grid News said the bill is not actually like European abortion laws. Yes, many European countries don’t allow abortion on request after 15 weeks, but they allow it for many more reasons, like socioeconomic status and mental health