Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said Sunday that he would not support Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) legislation establishing a federal 15-week abortion ban, arguing that the GOP has “been saying for nearly 50 years that this is not a federal issue.”
Lee made the comments during an appearance on Fox News Sunday after being asked by host Shannon Bream if he would consider backing Graham’s bill. The Utah senator, who is facing a surprisingly tough reelection fight against independent Evan McMullin, told Bream that while he has “immense respect” for Graham, “I can’t sign to it.”
DEMOCRATS ARGUE GRAHAM BILL SIGNALS NATIONWIDE ABORTION BAN
“We’ve been saying for nearly 50 years that this is not a federal issue,” Lee told the network. “It should be primarily a state issue except in so far as we’re dealing with federal funding and things that are distinctively part of Congress’s role. So now that Roe has been overturned correctly, we can’t suddenly make it a federal issue.”
“Moreover, the best way to save the most babies is to allow states, each state to protect babies in the way they deem most appropriate for their state,” he continued.
Graham introduced his abortion ban proposal in September, which included provisions providing exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, to counter bills in blue states that placed no restrictions on access to the procedure. While a small handful of Senate Republicans have gotten behind Graham’s effort, the majority of the caucus has opposed it, arguing as Lee did that the issue belongs with the states.
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The South Carolina senator has acknowledged that he currently lacks the votes to push the measure through, but he has vowed to stick by the bill and push it over the finish line.
Democrats, meanwhile, have capitalized on Graham’s bill, arguing that a vote for Republicans in the November midterm elections is a vote for diminished access to reproductive care.
