Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, it was easy for Republicans to point to the issue and promise change, and in return, Senator Lindsey Graham has taken it upon himself to create something else republicans can bond over: a national 15 week ban on abortions, with exceptions to rape, incest, and potential risk to the mother. 

“For a long time the republican party has made being anti abortion a central part of their platform, so Graham has proposed this bill as a way to continue that push at a national level rather than a state level,” said AP government and politics teacher Samuel Weaver. 

Roe has been bad for republicans. According to a Kaiser Family foundation poll, “60 percent of women voters between the ages of 18 and 49 said they are now ‘more motivated’ to vote in the upcoming elections because of the Supreme Court’s ruling.” Moderate women are now more likely to vote democrat. In general, most Americans are pro-choice.

With the issue of abortion back on the table, voters have another good reason to vote democrat. Republicans know this, Graham does not seem to. GOPs who worked to make abortion a states’ decision were especially quick to distance themselves from the bill and Graham, and the issue has not boded well with democrats either. 

“Other republicans are against him because for them it should be a matter left to individual states to make that decision. The more political reason is that recent polls have shown that abortion is a very motivational issue and fundraising and voter registration has increased among women because of these policies. As a way to not lose elections in the upcoming midterm, republicans are pushing back against this because maybe it will deter activism against their party,” said Weaver. 

Graham knows there’s no way this bill will pass through a democrat controlled house and senate. Just two weeks ago he tweeted that he believes abortion should be a states issue. This lame attempt at political trickery is distracting from the republican’s real agenda and giving democrats another leg to stand on in the upcoming midterm elections. 

“I think republicans already had an edge going into midterms because people are not very happy with Biden so I feel like [voters] will try to balance it by putting more people from the opposite party in congress. [With this bill] republicans will definitely lose a lot of women, especially moderate women who will probably be mad that they are trying to restrict women’s rights,” said Louisa Landhuis (‘23).