From what I’ve heard, there will be a historic number of new voters in this year’s miderm elections, and many of them will be single-issue voters. That single issue? Abortion. The right to abortion, the right to bodily autonomy, the right to seek health care, the right to exist as a woman without the state imposing itself on your reproductive system. The Republicans and the Supreme Court have already made it perfectly clear that they view women as incubators for the state’s domestic supply of infants. Clarence Thomas has already told the country that birth control is next. But a funny thing has been happening in the special elections: people are coming out in droves to support abortion rights. Whenever abortion is on the ballot, voters turn out. Before this week, the Republicans have been trying to find a way out of this dilemma. Then on Tuesday, Lindsey Graham decided to lean into it. Senator Graham – Lady G to his close associates – announced that if and when Republicans get a majority in the midterms, he’ll bring a national abortion ban to the floor.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced legislation on Tuesday that would institute a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, reigniting debate on an issue that Republicans have worked to confront before midterm elections in which abortion rights have become a potent issue.
There is no chance that Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, would allow such a bill to receive a vote in the Senate, where his party has been focused on preserving abortion access after the Supreme Court’s ruling in June ending the constitutional right to abortion.
And the proposal quickly divided Republicans, splitting their leaders and reflecting the difficult politics of abortion for the party in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision.
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, who has previously said his party was unlikely to pursue an abortion ban, told reporters on Tuesday that he thought the issue should be left up to the states and that most members of his conference agreed. When pressed on the details of Mr. Graham’s bill, Mr. McConnell sought to distance himself, saying, “You’ll have to ask him about it.”
Again, the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade was based on the idea that there’s no federal protection for abortion rights, that regulating or banning abortion is completely up to the states. Which is why some states have already put abortion rights on the ballot, and why voters in those states are coming out to say: actually, we want abortion rights. Now Sen. Graham wants the federal government to ban abortion. So… thanks for the clarity on this, Lady G. Now everyone can vote in the mid-terms knowing exactly what is at stake, and knowing that if Republicans get control of Congress, they’re banning abortion at the federal level.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina), Chairman, US Senate Judiciary Committee arrives for a US Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 22, 2020.,Image: 565033674, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no
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- United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina), Chairman, US Senate Judiciary Committee, listens during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Tuesday, November 10, 2020, on a probe of the FBI’s Russia investigation.,Image: 568339827, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no
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- EXCLUSIVE Committee Ranking Member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on whether taxpayer dollars should go to companies that violate labor laws in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 5, 2022. Credit: Samuel Corum / CNP Where: Washington, District of Columbia, Vereinigte Staaten When: 05 May 2022 Credit: Samuel Corum – CNP/DPA/Cover Images **ONLY AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK AND USA**
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- Senator Lindsey Graham Holds Press Conference On Late-Term Abortions Act United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina) offers remarks during a press conference on the introduction of the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act, in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, Featuring: Senator Lindsey Graham Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 13 Sep 2022 Credit: Rod Lamkey/CNP/startraksphoto.com/Cover Images
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- EXCLUSIVE United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina) offers remarks during a press conference on the introduction of the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act, in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, Tuesday, September 13, 2022. Credit: Rod Lamkey / CNP Where: Washington, District of Columbia, Vereinigte Staaten When: 13 Sep 2022 Credit: Rod Lamkey – CNP/DPA/Cover Images **ONLY AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK AND USA**
Thank you Carolina for motivating pro choicers to sign up to VOTE before the November elections.
Madam Graham… she’s a hoot
Trump has absolutely no bottom…that is unless you count Lindsey Graham.
I can’t help but wonder if he’s getting marching orders straight from the lips of the Orange Nightmare, in whose thrall he remains. Because it’s the only way this move makes any kind of sense.
Trump doesn’t care about abortion. Someone else is calling the shots for Lindsey. He was so clearly under duress at his press conference yesterday it was harder than usual to watch him.
Yup. Trump literally only cares about two things: Himself. And Money. End of list.
Trump absolutely used abortion to manipulate his ignorant voting base, so it’s not accurate to say he doesn’t care. (Also, he loves abortion cuz it worked in his favor in the many decades he was sleeping with the young models he trafficked.)
His marching orders come from his uber wealthy donors, along with their demands to defund US social security. Force the other 99 percent of the US population to engage in forced birth, so the 1% control the means of production/productivity. It is about ensuring ongoing generations of worker bees who work 80 hours a week until they die, no retirement, no health care, no social security, no unions.
@NASH, THIS!!!!!
Get out and vote! Our future depends on it. Abortion is not a female only issue. Get out and vote like your life depends on it. Because it does!!!
THIS!!!
Trump said on Howard stern about when Marla Maples got pregnant
“Well, what are we going to do about this?’ [Marla] said, ‘Are you serious? It’s the most beautiful day of our lives.’ I said, ‘Oh, great.'”
We all know what that means…….I can’t imagine him pushing for life rights anytime
Wondering the same thing: what is he thinking?
BTW, #MoscowMitch is lying. He brought a national abortion ban to floor vote in the Senate, in 2015—but now he has to reverse himself.
https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/20-week-abortion-ban-senate-vote-213926
GOOD. God, I hope this is the gift to the Democrats that I think it will be. If this doesn’t get people to the polls, I don’t think anything will.
It is a gift — coming on a day when the inflation numbers weren’t great and the stock market plunged — the Repugs would have loved to focus on the economic news and Lady G trounced them. Still, we can’t be complacent. We have GOT to get out the vote in November. As POTUS would say, this is not hyperbole, lives depend on it.
Lady G is the gift that keeps on giving……….
Yes!!!! No time to sit this one out!! Our lives DO depend on it!!!
On a side note, look for The Janes on HBOMax. It tells the story of the women in the ‘60’s that took over the abortion services from the deep underbelly in Illinois. Fabulous watch!!! A must for every women, girl and men!!
I’m from KS. Democrats need HARD reminders going out everywhere that this is what every single Republican wants, whether they are public about it or not. Our state has proven when backed into a corner, we WILL take action.
Bless all of you in KS who demonstrated early that reproductive rights MATTER more to us than party affiliation. That really put everyone on notice!
Lady G needs to GTFO of my uterus!
I’ve already had two friends nearly die thanks to the Texas abortion ban.
Not to mention, *I* wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for the fact that my mom had a legal and safe abortion, & my kids are alive after I had a d & c (medically identical to abortion) following a miscarriage.
These Repugnuts don’t care about the unborn; they care about scaring their constituents into voting for them. They would perform post-natal abortions on each other, if it meant more lobbying money and votes.
I felt so outraged last night. Some days I’m numb and others I’m in a blind rage. I was thinking back just a few short months to when a friend of mine posted about the abortion she had after being raped at age 13. I was thinking how I didn’t share my story because those are the stories we really need to hear right now, and my story is different because I’ve never been pregnant. I suspect I was always infertile because I’ve never had an accidental pregnancy, but I was always prepared to have an abortion if I needed one because I have a condition that would make pregnancy life threatening. I’ve been careful with birth control but so have many women who’ve gotten pregnant anyway. I’ve never been scared because despite the risks of pregnancy I always knew abortion was an option if needed. I’d be terrified right now if I were ten years younger.
A large majority of voters is pro choice so while I think single-issue voting is crazy, there are also instances where said issue is so huge and has so many repercussions, that it might actually help the party that didn’t force this sh*t. I hope people swarm the polls and I hope Dems wake up and realize they cannot ever again think that certain rights and protections are set in stone.
Also, I get why Lady G makes us all chuckle as a nickname but it’s really an insult not only to Graham but all women. The insult being, he is effeminate and that makes him a woman? Eh. Can we come up with a better one?
Demon Keebler Elf?
Demon Keebler Elf gets my vote!
He’s gonna have to fight Jeff Sessions for the title of Demon Keebler Elf.
Sessions would snatch and break the strand of pearls that Lindsay is always clutching in that fight.
Not just effeminate. Pretty sure it’s a homophobic nickname.
Allegedly Lady G is the nickname he asks the sex workers he hires to call him.
While there are MUCH better names out there to describe him, the “Lady G” comes from the sex work community in DC, it’s a nickname they gave him/he asked for depending on what report you read. There have been some very credible reports of Graham hiring males services for quite some time.
@Emmi – I agree with your point about single issue voting (something the NRA has turned into a science) but reproductive rights are not a single issue. For half the population, it’s a human rights issue. The inability to receive proper health care impacts every.single.aspect of our lives. If we can’t work/live/thrive without proper healthcare, it’s impacting the economy, the local community, the children we’re raising to someday be functional contributing adults . . . we can’t stop pointing out how significant to every aspect of life is healthcare for people with uteruses.
The Republicans will not stop until they have completely stripped women in this country of their right to make their own decisions about their bodies. This is the Handmaid’s tale happening in slow motion. The Republicans bit by bit a taking away the right to abortion in the most hypocritical way we have ever seen in our lifetimes. Let’s vote this people out in November.
All of this. They do not care if it’s consensual, these men and women are happy to endanger health and lives to coerce women and girls into complying with male sexual religious fantasies. They value female purity and submission over female lives.
On top of that, they know this will destabilize the economic gains and power women have accumulated over the years. They want us back in limited roles or out of the workforce entirely.
This could also be a ploy by Graham to gin up the Republican base. They’ve always been single issue voters and their wet dream of a federal nationwide abortion ban might motivate them in droves to the polls. Let’s just hope pro abortion voters actually get out to vote in the numbers needed for the the Dems to retain the House and Senate as well do well in local and state elections.
That’s exactly what it is. The Republicans see how energized the Democrats are, and this is a way to try and do the same for the hard right voters.
They did much the same thing years ago by putting initiatives banning gay marriage on as many state ballots as they could. And it did work. Republican turnout in those elections was crazy high.
This isn’t quite the same situation. Telling conservatives to vote for candidates in this election so they can pass a bill that Biden is sure to veto is not quite a slam dunk campaign slogan, but they have to try something. Honestly, I think it will backfire because it gives more ammunition for Democrats to use against them.
How does this make sense as a strategy, though? The independents are the ones who swing elections, and this is guaranteed to make them vote Dem.
Good call. It might be a way for them to take what they can get. The 15 week ban wouldn’t change the states that have 6 week or total bans. It would just limit everyone else. Viability doesn’t even happen until after 20 weeks and viability is the standard that Roe protected.
F*ck this guy.
Confused Brit here – isn’t LG gay ?
Why does he care so much about the autonomy women have over their bodies ?
Graham despises women
Republicans despise women. As I always say, “women aren’t people to the GOP.”
Lots of people have presumed LG is gay because he’s never married, AFAIK never been seen with women in social settings. Why does he care so much about women having autonomy over their bodies? Because he thinks it’s a winning position for Republicans. He didn’t use to be this bad. Like Hillary Clinton said in Howard Stern interview, after he started supporting Trump it looked like somebody had done a brain snatch on him.
they don’t just presume because he’s not married. there have long been reports of male escorts being hired. it’s just gossip but very persisent and apparently very specific.
he’s just a disgusting slimeball. i think he’s either being blackmailed or bought, but that’s my estimation of most of his fellow rs as well.
I bet he is being black mailed. The republicans know by now most people support abortion rights, so this is risky.
Lindsey Graham has ALWAYS been this bad. He was a House Manager for the Clinton impeachment.
It is an open secret in Washington that Graham is gay. He has had the same partner for years. Tin foil hat theory here, I think he is trying to keep MAGA’s from winning.
I have had this thought as well. If they’re out of power, maybe his balls will be out of a vise.
He’s gay? I thought he raped his family’s maid as a teenager? Am I confusing him with another republican predator?
Betty Rose, I believe you’re thinking of Strom Thurmond. He was in his 20s when he fathered a child with a teenage, African American maid employed by his family (it was in 1925). Lindsey Graham replaced ST.
This is the man who helped MCConnell keep Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court, who defended Brett Kavanaugh, who pushed Amy Covid Barrett through committee, who locked Monica Lewinsky in a hotel room and interrogated her about her sex life so he could impeach Clinton over a BJ, who has repeatedly portrayed Hillary Clinton as worse than Satan, who interfered in the Georgia and Arizona 2020 elections, who invited Ivanka to McCain’s funeral over Cindy McCain’s objections, who was extremely rude and unprofessional towards Paula Yates , and who makes it crystal clear he despises women. The language in his bill favors rapists and puts women’s lives at risk. And his colleagues are furious because he said the quiet part out loud.
+100
That’s a lot of words to say this man hates women beyond even the normal level of misogyny is men of his era. Men cannot be trusted to run society. Point blank. My experience is that given the chance to lead, women are very open to providing opportunities for men who’ve earned those opportunities. Women take no pleasure in oppressing others. (Yes, some women do, but in general women with tyrannical tendencies turn their hatred toward other women and not men, so basically there’s nothing for men to lose in women ascending to societal rule). There are definitely women I wouldn’t trust in leadership positions, but in general women who’ve worked hard and earned the qualifications to lead are needed to turn this fustercluck around.
It’s insane that a 67 yr old single/never married/no kids white southern man thinks he has the right to make this bill, and I think when asked 15 weeks he said it was chosen by him? I think there will be a blue wave, my mom (late 60s) her and her friends are PISSED and she tells EVERYONE she meets to register to vote. She even went to the local senior center recently with her bestie to help people know where to go/register/check if still registered. So yeah I’d be worried if I was a Republican and I’m sure they will complain about all these “new voters” and site fraud or something other than they do not represent all American people.
GOOD. Let your full Senator Palpatine out. It will motivate more people to come out to vote your ass out.
He’s not up for re-election until 2026. I do believe he tampered with the 2020 SC election in his favor. He was losing in the polls going into Election Day
Republican Senator provides nails for his own party’s coffin. Film at 11!
they’re one of those gay men who really really really hates women.
I”m with the lady in the red blouse behind him
Make no mistake, Mitch McConnell is fuming about this. This is a loser for Republicans in the run-up to the midterms, but Graham doesn’t care. Barack Obama described Graham as someone “who double-crosses everyone to save his own skin.”
Graham is desperate. He has serious exposure in the GA election case. And the DOJ as well as the January 6 committee likely have damning evidence on him. And my spidey senses tell me he might also be connected to the sprawling crime ring surrounding the Alex Murdaugh case in SC, which is said to involve *many* high profile people there. Lindsey’s future looks bleak.
He pretty much gave away his involvement on January 6 when he made that drunken speech on the Senate floor.
I am convinced Russia has kompromat on him. I suspect Putin gave Trump some code word to use to get him in line but didn’t give him any details, otherwise Trump would have tweeted it out at some point when he still had an account. The RNC servers were hacked and I think Lindsey had some images on the server that would land him in prison.
“I am convinced Russia has kompromat on him.”
SOMEONE does, for sure. there’s no other explanation for him flipping SO HARD for trump when he previously couldn’t stomach the idea of him in office.
I’m convinced that the kompromat is CSA material. It’s one of the few crimes that can still result in near universal revulsion and shunning. Nobody really bats an eye about run of the mill financial or sexual improprieties anymore. Rob Ford was reelected after smoking crack on camera. The standards have changed. Ask yourself what could possibly be bad enough to actually work effectively as kompromat these days? Then add in the recent manufactured panics over grooming and trafficking and then apply the old every accusation is a confession rule…
That photo makes him look like he just sharted himself.
The photo makes me think, “OH damnit, I f**ked up big time!!!!
You know the old saying “ If men were the ones who had childbirth vs women. Abortion would be a sacrament. ‘.
+1
I just can’t help but wonder how this ends. It’s infuriating, unnerving, depressing and shocking that the GOP continues to escalate despite their fascist leader’s recent downfall. I’m looking back to history, and I wonder how this ends.
A normal human being would begin their answer with “I am very sorry for your loss…” before launching into their bullshit, but this is who they are. This is who our friends and family vote for.
Gee, it’s almost as if they all have antisocial and narcissistic tendencies, if not full blown APD. I’m of the opinion that the near entire GOP are sociopaths. I’ve always thought the 4% estimate for sociopathy in the genpop was an egregious underestimation.
I hope conservative women can wake up and smell the coffee, and no matter how hard it is to accept, to realize that the men in their lives hate women. I know it’s easier to live in denial, and how difficult it must be to have to admit that your father, or husband, or brother, hates women including you. But women make up more than 50% of the population, we can stop this if we band together.
He’s one of the fraction of old guard gays who still despises women. Seriously. Register. Or check your registration status and VOTE!!!!!!
WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY.
You know what pisses me off, there are some good-hearted people in this country who believe he is wholesome literally only because he is white and familiar. When in the same second, they would assume a conniving or selfish personality in a foreign leader or US Democrat of any color. He wants control of people for the hell of it, that is all. This power addict would suggest an abortion in a flat f*ing second to a close friend.
It’s almost as if they create horrible distractions with long term consequences just because they can. And yet, we still need to abuse those who have abused power, acted criminally, committed treason, fraud etc.
We definitely need term limits.