US Senator Lindsey Graham proposed new national restrictions on abortion on Tuesday
, saying he wanted to help define Republicans on an issue seen as a potential albatross for his party in the November 8 midterm elections.
But the move carries political risks. Democrats have been eager to cast Republicans as extreme on the abortion issue, since the US Supreme Court in June overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide and about a dozen states began enforcing abortion bans. On Tuesday, however, Graham said he was introducing his bill as a counter to a measure Democrats pushed unsuccessfully this year in a bid to codify national abortion rights.
Graham's initiative appeared to run afoul of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said he would leave individual Republican candidates to determine their positions on the abortion issue. The bill quickly came under fire from Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who played on Graham's allegiance to Trump by branding it a"MAGA" measure, using the acronym for Trump's slogan,"Make America Great Again."
Democrats, who have been weighed down by inflation and President Joe Biden's anemic job approval numbers, are hoping voter energy around the abortion issue will allow the party to capitalize on Republican weaknesses in some House of Representatives and Senate races.