For clarification, those who support a woman’s right to choose are not pro-abortion, they are pro-choice. When a woman must make the heart-wrenching decision to abort a pregnancy, she does not believe that abortion is “a means of birth control” as suggested by State Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R-SC).
The choice in itself is based on deeply personal and unfortunate circumstances. It belongs only to women and the doctors they have come to trust, but they lost that right when Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022, literally putting that decision into the hands of the courts and the criminal justice system.
In response to that Supreme Court decision, states are now scrambling to enact their own legislation regarding the issue of abortion with very little agreement among them. To save the day, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina proposed a new federal law to prevent every woman in the United States from having an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Graham would, of course, like us to consider this proposal as a solution to the potential plight of embryos in the United States, rather than a political expedient in the up-coming mid-term election. The following statement from him leaves little doubt to his motivation: “I think the Democrats made a huge mistake in introducing legislation in Washington that would basically allow abortion up to the moment of birth. Now we have an alternative to that.”
True to classic far-Right campaigning, the contrast Graham offers to Americans between Democratic and Republican ideals is certainly not subtle. The Right would have everyone believe that they, alone, will save babies from being murdered at the hands of unscrupulous doctors and loose, uncaring women at the moment of their birth.
True to form their campaign has always been to instill the fear in the hearts of voters that electing Democrats will cause us all to slide quickly into a pool of moral and economic decadency. And they must convince us that women make foolish choices, especially when it comes to their own bodies, and must, therefore, be controlled with harsh consequences for disobeying their new laws.
Graham does remind us of the boy we all remember in the fifth grade; you know the one who sat in the front row and always had his hand raised. He could be counted on to remind the teacher to not forget to give homework assignments just before the dismissal bell. The boy might have gotten some traction with the teacher back then, but not so much with his peers.
We know that many of Graham’s peers disagree with his abortion bill. The SC senator might have even disappointed the teacher with his plan. Maybe Graham should have kept his hand down instead of proposing a Federal abortion bill which does reveal an unfortunate crack in the platform, rather than rushing in to save the day.
Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would not commit to giving his 15-week abortion ban bill a vote if the Republicans retake the senate in the midterms. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX said of the bill, “I think there’s going to be some differences of opinion. My preference is to have each state handle those issues.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he wanted to focus on inflation.
Joe O’Dea, The Colorado Senate Republican nominee, said that he opposed the legislation, calling for Congress to “pass a bill protecting a woman’s right to choose early in pregnancy, while providing for sensible limits on non-medically necessary late-term abortion.”
Ashlyn Preaux, Democratic candidate for SC House District 61, is running for office hoping to protect personal freedoms for her children and all of South Carolina’s children. She asks this question of Republicans: “If you believe in small government, or little government involvement, then why does the government get to be involved in my uterus and my reproductive system?”
Sen. Graham would do well to listen to his constituents and his peers in Congress before designing bills to restrict the rights of women. Frankly, there is much to be done for the needs of the children who are here, struggling to grow up with hopes for basic necessities and a decent education.
Maybe the good senator should sit down, put his hand down and listen. Scare tactics might not work on this issue.
