Graham’s Abortion Ban Puts GOP Senate Candidates in Tight Spot, Drives Democrat Hopes

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) recently-unveiled 15-week abortion ban is causing headaches for GOP Senate nominees in tight races and driving Democrats’ hopes of regaining momentum only weeks ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Graham on Sept. 13 unveiled the bill, dubbed the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act. The legislation is similar to another bill introduced in the Senate by Graham last year but it would change the prohibition from the previous bill’s 20-week ban to a reduced 15-week ban.

During a press conference on the bill, Graham argued that the legislation, which would target physicians providing banned abortions rather than women seeking them, is necessary to place the United States in line with most of the rest of the developed world. In Europe, Graham noted, 47 of the continent’s 50 countries ban abortion after 12 to 15 weeks of gestation.

Under the terms of the bill, physicians providing banned abortions after the legal threshold would be on the hook for a federal criminal charge carrying a fine and up to five years in federal prison.

However, the bill would permit exceptions in cases where physicians determine the mother’s life is in danger or for babies who are the product of rape or incest.

For Democrats, the bill renewed some hope of regaining momentum ahead of a race that observers have long predicted would see Democrats lose the House and only narrowly hold the Senate, if at all.

Months after the Supreme Court made its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to return the power to regulate abortion to the states, Democrats’ efforts to use the issue to rile up their pro-abortion base were slipping as issues like inflation, rising crime, and border security took the forefront.

Now, some observers—including conservatives and members of Graham’s own party—are worried that

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