A shaky video shows a woman walking down a street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, into the office of Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from New York City.
The woman presented the papers to the staffers as they looked up from their desk. Malliotakis was not able to comment on the abortion ban bill. The woman said she was bringing the copy to the woman.
She would have to give us her opinion on it.
In less than two months, voters in Malliotakis's district will make a decision on her reelection bid against Max Rose, a Democrat who held the seat. Malliotakis would have preferred to talk about crime and inflation instead of discussing the social issue that polls show Democrats are more closely aligned with voters.
Since last Tuesday, when Lindsey Graham introduced a bill that would ban abortion after the 15th week of pregnancies in almost all cases, it has become impossible. The stunt helps remind voters that Republicans want to ban abortion everywhere.
The leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health indicated that abortion access was about to end. Democratic states could keep abortion legal while Republican states could outlaw it completely, according to the Defenders of the Dobbs ruling. The kind of consensus the proponents of states' rights were praised for was an uneasy one.
Graham called his own party. How could the GOP tolerate the persistence of abortion in so much of the country? Is it possible that it sees Dobbs as a minor victory? The ruling made it harder to get an abortion in states with few rights, but it also made it easier to get one in states with more rights.
The senator was unwilling to put the rights of the states over the rights of the unborn, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Graham's views could jeopardize his party's chances in the upcoming elections.
The Democrats have been trying to get the GOP to support a federal abortion ban. Colin Reed said in an email that they can now. Candidates have said that this should be a state issue. The issue should be decided at the federal level or state level. It's difficult to be both.
Rose, whose campaign engineered the stunt at Malliotakis's district office, seized on Graham's proposal as soon as it was issued.
Democrats battered Republicans in swing districts with questions about where they stood on a proposal many of them only just learned about as coverage of Graham's bill dominated the news. McConnell has no apparent enthusiasm for the proposed ban. Most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at the state level. His office didn't talk to Yahoo News about it anymore.
Graham seemed to be in the camp of allowing states to set their own abortion rules after June's decision in Dobbs.
Graham said in an interview on CNN that he believed states should decide the issue of marriage and abortion.
President Biden couldn't help but notice the change. He said it was clear that Graham was not concerned with the Constitution when he went from promoting states rights to promoting a nationwide ban.
In the weeks after that CNN interview, Graham would seemingly come to change his mind, in a development that could be very consequential for the Republicans.
Graham described last Tuesday's proposal as the culmination of a decades-long effort to ban abortion during the second and third trimesters. He said he was not inconsistent while talking about his legislative efforts. It is absurd to suggest that I am new to the game.
A controversial term, "late-term abortion" refers to a pregnancy terminated after the 21st week for grave medical reasons. The majority of abortions take place during the first few weeks of the baby's life.
A person familiar with Graham's thinking told Yahoo News that the senior South Carolina senator came to the conclusion that national legislation was necessary after the reversal of the abortion law.
The associate asked for anonymity in order to speak honestly about the senator's thinking. This will be picked up by Republicans who are running this year. The situation is being brought clarity by us.
McConnell has been less receptive than some Republicans. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was the first one to embrace Graham's plan. "Any and all efforts to advance the cause of life in state capitals or in the nation's capital are welcome," said the former vice president.
According to a person familiar with Graham's thinking, Republicans have been wrong to run from Graham's bill, instead they should embrace it as a middle ground between GOP states implementing abortion bans and Democratic states expanding abortion access.
In Pennsylvania, the Republican nominee for the Senate, Mehmet Oz, is in a close race. With West Virginia just implementing a near-total abortion ban, Oz would have to answer questions about where he stood on reproductive rights. Democrats tell their supporters that Republican restrictions in one state are bound to inform efforts in another.
The Graham associate pointed to polls that show Americans do support limits on when abortions can be performed, but only if the mother's life is in danger. The Oz campaign didn't think Graham's move was particularly helpful. He would want to make sure that the federal government was not involved in interfering with the state's decisions on the topic.
The other Republican candidates were harsher. According to Joe O'Dea, a Senate nominee in Colorado, the American people would be better off if Washington were more interested in addressing inflation, reducing the debt and securing the border.
One Republican political consultant said it was an absolute disaster.
Democrats see Graham's proposal as a political gift and realization of their fears. They had been hoping that the Supreme Court's abortion decision would help their candidates in the upcoming elections. The resounding defeat of an anti-abortion-rights referendum in Kansas last month only made them more optimistic.
Kevin Munoz, White House assistant press secretary, told Yahoo News that the split screen between President Biden's singular focus on fighting for American families versus Republican officials bent on setting the nation backwards shows who is prioritized the American people.
Republicans had been using the economy as their primary cudgel against Biden, but Graham criticized that approach on Sunday, calling once more on his party to embrace the abortion debate rather than flee from it. When you are asked about abortion, you cannot say that you want to lower inflation. He said to give a logical answer.
Democrats have been more interested in talking about Graham than Republicans have been. In his campaign against Malliotakis in New York City, Rose used Graham's bill to argue that his opponent was questioning the biological feasibility of having a baby.
The woman hammered the man for being "tone deaf" on inflation.
Several Republican candidates distanced themselves from a national ban, hoping that they wouldn't be asked about it again. The Supreme Court has made abortion a state issue, and Oregonians have already decided that abortion should be legal, according to the Republican candidate for a House seat.
Graham is still unapologetic about the bill. Fox News host Jesse Watters criticized Graham for "terrible timing" and "terrible tactics." Graham wasn't going to back down. When elected officials try to set the agenda on morning talk shows, he continued to defend his plan on Sunday. Graham is pro-life in an election year.
He said he wouldn't sit on the sideline.
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