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A mother who survived the Highland Park mass shooting confronted Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday during a news conference where he unveiled legislation to ban abortion after 15 weeks.
The woman — Ashbey Beasley, who said she learned of her baby’s fatal fetal abnormality after 16 weeks — told reporters afterwards that she “crashed” the media event while in the US Capitol to pay GOP senators Pat Toomey and Mike Braun to lobby for gun control.
Graham’s bill provides exceptions for abortions after 15 weeks when the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life and for rape – although the rape victim must have sought medical treatment and counseling for the trauma at least 48 hours prior to her abortion.
At one point, the South Carolina senator cracked down on the Democrats’ own bill designed to ensure access to abortion, claiming the lax legal framework equates the US with countries like Syria and Iran.
“Democrats wanted a national standard, and their standard was basically abortion up to the time of birth — which got you into the Iran, Syria club,” Graham said.
He also called the Democrats’ proposal, which the House passed but was unlikely to pass in the Senate, “whacko.”
Graham’s abortion bill is the first piece of Republican legislation regarding the procedure since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
Flanked by pro-life activists, Senator Lindsey Graham unveiled new legislation that would ban abortion after 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape and incest
Ashbey Beasley, survivor of the Highland Park shooting, ‘crashed’ Graham’s press conference to confront him about what would happen to women like her, who had an abortion after discovering a fatal fetal abnormality at 16 weeks
At his press conference, he shook off concerns that the legislation could make Republican candidates more vulnerable in the medium term, as the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health energized the left-wing grassroots.
“I don’t think this will hurt us,” Graham said.
‘I think it will hurt more’ [Democrats] when they try to explain to a reasonable person why it’s okay to be more like Iran and less like France when it comes to abortion.”
He added that he not only welcomes voters who have a “discussion” on the topic, but he anticipated it.
Just as the event drew to a close, Beasley took the floor and demanded that Graham tell her what her family should do after she had a 16-week abortion after finding out her baby had a fatal abnormality.
“We were allowed to make that choice for him,” Beasley said of her son’s abortion. “You would rob that choice of millions of women.”
Graham, visibly taken aback, replied: ‘The world has talked quite a lot about this matter… doctors say the child feels pain at this stage of the pregnancy, and we say we are going with the rest of the world. join and don’t be like Iran.’
“As for your particular case, there will be exceptions,” he added.
The cornerstone of Graham’s argument is that most European countries have abortion limits stricter than the 15-week proposal
Beasley objected that she saw no exception “for a baby born with an abnormality.”
“There are 55,000 abortions after the 15 week period and we are determined to bring America back into line with the rest of the world and we won’t know where America is until we vote, until we debate,” Graham insisted.
“And so to my Democratic friends, you’re going to call us every name you can think of – ‘You’re a bunch of idiots.’ Your idea is idiotic, not ours. Let’s vote.’
The South Carolina senator expressed confidence that he would get Republican support for the bill, even saying he believes a “handful” of Democrats would get on board.
But his bill has been blown up to the White House by Democrats.
“This bill is totally inconsistent with what Americans believe,” press officer Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Tuesday.
As President Biden and Vice President Harris focus on the landmark passage of the Inflation Reduction Act to lower the costs of prescription drugs, healthcare and energy — and to take unprecedented action to tackle climate change — Republicans are targeting in Congress focused on taking rights away from millions of women. The president and vice president are fighting for progress, while the Republicans are fighting to take us back.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also released a statement at the beginning of Graham’s press conference hammering out the bill.
The nationwide abortion ban proposal put forward today is the most recent, clearest signal of the extreme MAGA Republicans’ intent to criminalize women’s health freedom in all 50 states and arrest physicians. for providing basic care,” the California Democrat said.
“With Roe out of the way, extreme MAGA Republicans are happily moving forward with their deadly crusade to punish and control women’s health decisions.”