Lindsey Graham’s horrible, dishonest, unlawful, and destructive abortion ban

I’ve never forgotten that John McCain’s best friend in the Senate was Sen. Lindsey Graham (RINO-SC). While McCain served with tremendous distinction in Vietnam, by the time Trump rolled around, the RINO “maverick” was such a petty little man that he let his (admittedly justified) dislike for Trump lead him to spite all Americans by keeping Obamacare in place. I mention this because Graham’s fealty to McCain (and, perhaps, to his other Senate buddy, Biden) sees him touting a federal abortion ban at 15 weeks. It’s an awful, unlawful, and dishonest idea that will not do anything to stop most abortions but will stop Trump from regaining the White House.

Yesterday, Donald Trump issued a very wise statement: He said, quite accurately, that the Supreme Court has concluded that abortion is a purely state’s rights issue. As a matter of constitutional law, the Supreme Court was correct, and as a matter of election-year pragmatism, Donald Trump is correct. Trump is courting people across America based on the economy and national security (including border security). He needs disaffected Democrats to vote for him, and he won’t get that if he’s campaigning to end abortion.

Graham’s response was to demand a national law banning abortion at 15 weeks, the same thing he did in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms:

The states’ rights only rationale today runs contrary to an American consensus that would limit late-term abortions and will age about as well as the Dred Scott decision.

The science is clear – a child at fifteen weeks is well-developed and is capable of feeling pain.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 8, 2024

However, until we achieve this goal, the least we can do is to provide anesthesia to an unborn child facing an abortion at fifteen weeks because they can feel pain. Therefore, I will be introducing new legislation requiring abortion providers to administer anesthesia to an unborn…

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 8, 2024

Forty-seven of fifty European nations have national limits on abortion between twelve and fifteen weeks. This is the civilized world’s position.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 8, 2024

As a matter of morals and principles, Graham is correct about abortions after about 15 weeks, as well as about the fact that we are more brutal and less ethical than Europe on the subject. However, pragmatically, back in 2022, Graham’s demand for a ban was probably a large part of why a red wave became a red trickle, losing Republicans the Senate and leaving them with a tenuous hold on the House (a hold made more tenuous by recent RINO retirements). It’s almost as if Graham wants Trump to lose.

Image created using AI and blood drip by jannoon028.

Moreover, Graham is forcing a loss on Trump even though his demand is completely pointless. The Supreme Court has explicitly said that the question of abortion belongs to the states. The federal government has no supremacy in this area. It cannot override state preferences without a constitutional amendment. Graham is forcing an issue into the presidential election that is completely irrelevant to the president. For this reason alone, one must suspect that Graham is deliberately acting as an election spoiler.

But there’s worse, and it goes back to that “morals and principles” issue. There’s a deep dishonesty lying behind Graham’s abortion ban: Despite losing Trump the disaffected Democrat vote, it won’t do a darn thing to stop abortions. In America, 94% of all abortions occur during the first trimester. In other words, abortion in America would continue virtually unabated even if Lindsey’s “abortion ban” were passed.

What this means is that the ban would do nothing to placate the pro-life side’s horror at the annual abortion carnage taking place in America. Instead, it’s a con meant to placate them. Meanwhile, any type of ban is anathema to leftists and will mean that they will walk over broken glass to vote for Biden and a Democrat-controlled Congress to make sure that unfettered abortion remains “sacred ground,” untouched by federal hands.

Donald Trump, who understands perfectly well what Graham’s demand for a federal abortion law will do to Republican chances in November 2024, struck back ferociously via Truth Social at a putative ally who was suddenly channeling the malevolent ghost of John McCain:

Trump’s right, and Lindsey Graham is dangerous. It’s almost as if he wants his (and John McCain’s) former Senatorial colleague, Joe Biden, to have a second term in the White House…