In a June 12 column, the Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank botches a key fact about federal legislation that would ban abortion during the final four months of pregnancy, when infants can feel pain and survive long-term if they’re born prematurely:
What led [Senator Lindsey] Graham to believe himself on history’s side was his introduction of legislation banning all abortions after five months. But while the verdict of the ages has yet to be returned, Graham, a GOP presidential candidate, certainly is not on the right side of logic.
The procedures Graham seeks to ban account for less than 1.5 percent of all abortions in the United States, and those are often the most difficult cases, such as the woman who discovers late in pregnancy that she has cancer [emphasis added].
Contrary to Milbank’s claim, the bill does not ban “all” abortions after five months of pregnancy. The law includes an exception for when a physical health issue endangers the life of the mother. Here’s the text of the bill:
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