Almost immediately after Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced a national abortion ban, the South Carolina Republican faced pushback on multiple fronts, including the fact that he’d just told Americans weeks earlier that he wanted abortion policy to be decided at the state level. Graham has earned a reputation for having malleable principles, but this was ridiculous.
A week later, the senator is still struggling to explain his beliefs in a coherent way. The Washington Post noted his latest efforts this morning:
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) declared Tuesday that abortion “is not a states’ rights issue” as he advocated during a television appearance for his legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. His remarks during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Fox News are directly at odds with what he said on the issue in May, when it appeared the Supreme Court was on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision.
“This is not a states’ rights issue, this is a human right issue,” Graham said this morning. “I don’t care what California does on most things. I care here. I am not going to sit on the sidelines in Washington, D.C., and tell the pro-life community Washington is closed for business.”
I’m not sure who’s more confused, Graham or me trying to understand Graham’s position.
Perhaps a brief timeline will help clarify matters:
On May 3, Graham said via Twitter that a Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade would mean that “every state will decide if abortion is legal and on what terms.” The Republican senator added that this would be “the most constitutionally sound way of dealing with this issue.”
On June 24, in another tweet after the high court’s ruling, Graham seemed to celebrate the fact that it would be up to “elected officials in the states to decide” whether their constituents can have reproductive rights.
On June 26, Graham told Fox News, “All of us in the conservative world have believed that there’s nothing in the Constitution giving the federal government the right to regulate abortion.”
On Aug. 2, Graham appeared on CNN and boasted about how “consistent” he’s been in arguing that “states should decide the issue of abortion.”
On Sept. 13, Graham unveiled a national abortion ban that would prevent states from allowing legal abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
On Sept. 18, Graham insisted, “I’m not inconsistent.”
No, of course not. Perish the thought.
Look, the fact that the South Carolinian is unprincipled is not exactly breaking news. The senator has earned a reputation for ignoring his values and core beliefs whenever it’s convenient. This latest example is stunning, but it’s not out of character.
But as was the case with Sen. Marco Rubio’s related reversal, the larger takeaway is that too many Republicans aren’t even bothering with pretenses. If there are proposals to restrict reproductive rights at the state level, they’ll support them. If there are related efforts at the federal level, Republicans will support those measures, too.
As we’ve discussed, governing principles aren’t important to a post-policy party. Lawmakers like Graham start with the answer and work backward. Questions about federalism are deemed irrelevant and easily cast aside.
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