Sen. Lindsey Graham just cxouldn't help himself, could he?
As August gave way and September began he decided to get some publicity for himself by announcing he was sponsoring an abortion ban on the Federal level. While he claimed it would outlaw the procedure after 15 weeks everyone knows this is a back door way to get abortion outlawed on the national level.
Almost immediately the mainstream media pretended to be shocked by Graham's announcement, claiming that it took the Coupublicans by surprise as they head towards the midterm elections in November. In a normal climate this may have been something the GOP would shout from the rooftops but they learned after the SCOTUS overturned Roe v Wade back at the end of June caused so much blow back and anger that trying to regulate what people who can get pregnant can do with their bodies might not be the big election gold star they thought. As such conservative insiders are trying to get politicians to backpedal on their pro forced childbirth policies and support in hopes of fooling enough moderates to vote for them in a couple of months. What Graham's statement did was take an issue that was already motivating and angering Democrats and independents and put it up front for them to capitalize on.
We won't go over the ban itself (though it appears Graham and his ilk might not propose it until after the election (probably next term, depending on the election results since the 50-50 split in the Senate means it's unlikely to gain 60 votes and almost definitely won't be made exempt from the filibuster). But ther are a couple questions that I want to briefly discuss.
First, was this really a surprise? The media framing is trying to paint this like Graham just sprung this out of nowhere in hopes that Dems would run scared. This is a possibility. However, I'm leaning a little more to what YouTuber Beau of the Fifth Column brought up - that this could be intentional as an attempt to show the ban as a compromise in order to fool moderates and independents who may otherwise vote for the GOP. The reason I lean that way is that nothing in the American right wing seems to happen by chance so odds are good that someone high up in the GOP approved this, got LIndsey Graham on board and is pretending to be shocked in hopes this will own the libs.
Liberals, of course, aren't shocked by this. IN fact they've expected something like this ever since the leaked opinion back in May suggested that SCOTUS might be wanting to take away rights and liberties for some people. The only unexpected part was the gift of this going down so close to the midterms.
Which leads us to the next question: should Democrats jump on this and point out every Coupublican politicians' pro forced childbirth stance (as well as more recent efforts to hide them)? OF COURSE. The Dobbs ruling a couple months back allowed Dems to shine a light on the other side and their hypocrisy. If they're smart they should keep on this point like a dog with a nice meaty bone and make sure nobody is uncertain of where the GOP lies on this.
I know some people are thinking that the rush to ban abortion will automatically motivate women to the polls and help to bring about a blue tidal wave that makes the Coupuiblicans a small minority. While I hope they're right I also know that the right wing loves to lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want - especially in elections since many are still pretending to be outraged over 2020, As such we have to remember that there will likely be attempts to suppress the vote as well as higher output. Add to this the white conservative women who are pro forced childbirth and will thorw the rights of their own under the bus to keep thier side in power and we can't be too careful when it comes to how this will play out.
Because of that people who want to make sure abortion access is protected (along with other issues of reproductive freedom and reproductive justice) need to make sure they can vote and that their vote is accepted. The Coupublicans will do whatever they can to try and stop the other side from winning so voting and fighting back politically against their noise is important now, in November, and afterwards.
There's a lot in the air right now but Graham's little press conference should be seen as a door for those who aren't Coupublicans to drive home what the GOP is now and make sure people realize it before the election goes down.
