Sen. Lindsey Graham finds himself increasingly on an island when it comes to the issue of abortion as he continues to push for federal restrictions.
Other congressional Republicans have aligned themselves with former President Donald Trump’s recently publicized view that he believes terminating a pregnancy should be a matter left to the states.
Whether they fear Trump’s wrath or are simply relieved that Democrats’ core message is no longer an effective election scare tactic, Senate Republicans – even those who had backed a bill that would have instituted a 15-week federal ban – there was high praise for the former president’s statement.
‘I texted Trump and said, well done. I mean he really was. “I thought, thank you, thank you for doing it,” Sen. Kevin Cramer told reporters Tuesday.
Cramer was a co-sponsor of Graham’s legislation that would have banned abortions federally at 15 weeks.
“My feeling is that there is probably some relief [among Republicans] that he did that,” the North Dakota Republican admitted.
Sen. Lindsey Graham finds himself increasingly on an island when it comes to the issue of abortion as he continues to push for federal restrictions.
Whether they fear Trump’s wrath or are simply relieved that Democrats’ core message will no longer be an effective scare tactic in congressional elections, Senate Republicans – even those who had backed a bill that would have instituted a 15-week federal ban – had high praise for the former president’s statement
Cramer told DailyMail.com that he would still “probably” support the Graham bill, but “for now Donald Trump has landed in a good place and we should follow that example.”
“If there is a place where people feel comfortable and in what we have done to confirm good judges,” the senator continued. “Maybe we’ll pause and celebrate that for a while and start working on people’s hearts instead of looking for the next thing.”
Other staunch conservatives, such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., said they agreed with Trump that abortion is now squarely in the jurisdiction of the states.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., another co-sponsor of Graham’s 15-week legislation, told DailyMail.com he “couldn’t think of anything” he disagreed with in Trump’s statement.
‘I think I agreed with it for the most part. I can’t say there’s anything I totally disagree with, I think the Dobbs decision clearly puts it back to the states and we’ll leave it at that.’
He said he would still support a 15-week ban, but “there just aren’t 45 or 50 votes that will agree on anything.”
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, chairman of the Senate GOP campaign arm, told DailyMail.com that it is “absolutely false to say that Republicans support a federal ban” on abortion. He also co-sponsored the Graham bill.
He clarified that he was referring to a total ban. “We must come together and be reasonable about late-term abortions, with exceptions for rape,” she added.
The abortion debate exposed a rift between Trump and one of his biggest allies in Congress on Monday.
The former president became furious with Graham after the South Carolina Republican said he was making a “mistake” on abortion.
‘I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won the Great State of South Carolina is because I backed him!’ Trump said in one of several posts on Truth Social.
Graham had written in X hours earlier: ‘I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue. Dobbs does not legally require that conclusion, and the pro-life movement has always focused on the well-being of the fetus, not geography.’
The 2022 Women’s Health Organization decision Dobbs v. Jackson eliminated federal protections for a woman’s right to abortion. Since then, states have been divided between implementing new restrictions and fighting the political implications of restricting abortion.
Trump has wavered on abortion over the years, from before his run for president, when he said he was pro-choice, to supporting punishment for women who have abortions, to hinting he might back a ban. 15-week federal.
“We have abortions where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine it by voting or legislation or maybe both, and whatever they decide should be the law of the land,” Trump said in the video released Monday.
Just as Trump raised the issue with the states, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a new ruling that amounted to a near-total ban on abortion and drew even conservative opposition.
The court ruled Tuesday that the state can enforce its dormant 160-year-old law that criminalizes all abortions except when it endangers the mother’s life.
The 1864 law does not establish exceptions for abortion in cases of rape or incest, but allows a mother to request the termination of her pregnancy if her life is in danger if she carries the fetus to term. The state will now have one of the strictest abortion policies in the country.
Trump ally and Senate candidate Kari Lake spoke out against the ruling: “I oppose today’s ruling and call on Katie Hobbs and the state Legislature to come up with an immediate, common-sense solution that Arizonans can support.”
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) called Tuesday’s ruling a “disaster for women and providers” and criticized the law as “archaic.”
She said the 15-week ban was a good balance in protecting the rights of women and the unborn, and said the previous law “respected women and the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy.”