Lindsey Graham sabotaged the pro-life movement post-Dobbs, and most conservatives missed it in the hubbub. When Graham proposed a national law banning abortion after 15 weeks, he changed every conversation around abortion from a win to a loss.
Post-Dobbs, pro-life activists celebrated, and their energy turned, rightfully, to the states to help enact laws that would protect the lives of the unborn. Divided, abortion activists were fighting on many fronts to defend a woman’s right to murder. When Graham nationalized the issue, he galvanized the opposition and gave them a central rallying cry. Graham is a seasoned politician. He knew what he was doing, and it wasn’t helping the pro-life movement. (READ MORE from Melissa Mackenzie: You Are the Target of an Investigation)
From NPR at the time:
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to create a federal ban on abortions at 15 weeks in an attempt to force Republicans to adopt a partywide consensus on the issue.
The move comes as Democrats have turned abortion into a rallying cry following the Supreme Court decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade. Polls have consistently shown that a majority of voters oppose the end of federal abortion protections.
Graham knew that the bill was a dud and would go nowhere. What it did do, though, was create a media frenzy. Every Republican had to answer the question about whether they’d support a “national ban on abortion” — implying that abortion would be outlawed completely. Graham knew that’s how the bill would be perceived. It changed the GOP position from one of offense to one of defense.
The problem manifested itself plainly in the Trump interview that everyone is talking about. Conservative pro-life commentators are throwing fits and acting as if Donald Trump has abandoned the pro-life movement. This is absurd. What Trump succeeded in doing was avoid the traps set by the NBC interviewer, one created by Lindsey Graham — namely, whether he’d nationalize the abortion issue.
The interview should be watched by all. It is a master class in handling a hostile interviewer and avoiding rhetorical traps.
Here’s what Trump knows: He needs moderate women voters. He cannot, nor can any Republican candidate, win moderate women if he supports a national law. Without moderate women, no Republican can win. He also knows that states deciding for themselves how to handle the issue is the best possible political outcome. A national law won’t get passed and, further, no progress on pro-life causes can be made if he can’t get elected. He, and any Republican candidate, must face this reality, or power will elude them.
Trump knows — and conservatives must remember this, too — that abortion is a heart and mind issue. The places where abortion has been outlawed or restricted had the moral and spiritual will to do so. Unfortunately, there are places in America where women and men have been deceived into believing that abortion is an issue of personal autonomy and rights for the mother. It will take time to make clear to people that abortion is a civil rights issue for the helpless child in her mother’s womb. That baby, that person, deserves the rights of all Americans: life, liberty, and the ability to pursue happiness. That’s not something that one can do if he is murdered.
Navigating this fraught territory politically is no mean feat. The only solution politically is the tack that Trump took, and that is to note the Dobbs win and praise sending the issue back to the states while remaining noncommittal to the possibility of the national law proposed by a sneaky Republican looking to torpedo the pro-life win.
But Trump didn’t just deftly manage the issue defensively; he went on the offense. Seven times, Trump brought the abortion issue back to the Democrats by pointing out that Democrats want to literally kill babies. He noted that former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a physician himself, wanted mothers to be able to kill a baby that had been born alive. This true assertion left the interviewer sputtering.
If Republicans want to win on the abortion issue, they need to keep bringing the discussion back to the Democrats’ love of killing full-term babies. Trump did that. He simply cannot spend his time defending a 15-week abortion ban law that is never going to happen.
Should a national law banning abortion after 15 weeks even be on the table? With the federalization of so many laws, shouldn’t conservatives want to push legislating more locally? From a political perspective, dividing the Democrats and making them fight locally is a better solution. In addition, Republicans locally need to message better and educate the public.
Ultimately, though, this issue is spiritual. Women have been lied to and now believe that abortion is a right that’s being stolen from them. Those who get abortions are often shocked and grieved to find that their “choice” didn’t afford them the freedom they sought — far from it. Instead of being free, they’re bound in grief and shame. Once a new life exists, snuffing it out or nurturing it to adulthood has lifelong implications. There is no avoiding the consequences of an unwanted or surprise pregnancy. Political rhetoric masks the profoundly personal pain a woman endures when she kills her own baby.
Donald Trump navigated complicated political waters during his interview. The current political environment around abortion was made more complex by Lindsey Graham. Far from being a principled decision, it lobbed a loser grenade into winning the post-Dobbs moment.
Graham is no friend of the pro-life movement. He’s a saboteur.