Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi mocked Republican lawmakers on Wednesday after U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham‘s decision to announce a bill to ban abortion nationwide continues to backfire on the South Carolina Republican and the GOP.
Pointing to a little-noticed aspect of Graham’s proposed legislation, which would ban nearly all abortion at the 15-week mark, Speaker Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference the bill would not just place a nationwide ban of abortion, it would actually “criminalize” it.
“The extreme MAGA Republicans gathered to unveil their latest bill to criminalize women’s health in all 50 states,” Pelosi declared. “The bill calls for a penalty of five years, in federal prison, for doctors performing abortions.”
Calling it a “democracy issue,” and a “freedom issue” Pelosi said it is “also a kitchen table issue for America’s working families.” She added that House Democrats have already passed a bill to codify a woman’s right to abortion into federal law, noting that “not one Republican voted for that.”
Turning her focus to the constitutional right to contraception, another critical issue for Democrats, one that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said should be re-examined, along with the constitutional rights to same-sex intimacy and marriage, Pelosi noted that over 200 House Republicans “do not support a woman’s right to contraception,” and just three House Republicans voted to allow women the right to cross state lines to obtain an abortion.
Asked about Graham’s efforts to ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks, Pelosi noted his fellow Republicans appeared to “pour cold water” over his bill.
“I think what you’re seeing is a conflict within the Republican Party,” Pelosi noted. “There are those in the party that think life begins at a candlelight dinner the night before,” she quipped, mocking those who unscientifically insist every fertilized egg should be granted full personhood rights.
Earlier in the day Punchbowl News reported Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn “all separately made the same prediction,” that Democrats will not only hold the House majority but will pick ups seats.
Almost daily FiveThirtyEight‘s projections for which party will win control of both the House and the Senate increase in favor of Democrats.
Current Democrats, according to FiveThirtyEight, have 71 chances out of 100 to retain control of the Senate, and 27 chances out of 100 to retain control of the House.
But many believe the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade along with President Joe Biden’s historic legislative victories earlier this summer have galvanized Democrats, and Sen. Graham’s push for a nationwide abortion ban only further ensured Democratic wins in the November midterms.
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